It all started with a Kindle
by Dreamer372
Summary: When two friends got a new kindle, they did not expect to get transported to the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, become chimeras, or fight along side their favorite characters. Can Alex and Kestrel keep their secret, or will they be sent off to a lab? Will they get back to their world, or will they stay? No pairings yet, T for cursing, average violence, and craziness! Two Authors.
1. The kindle

**Dreamer372: Hi! This story is done by two authors, and we're each characters, but not too much Mary-sue.**

**BlueRoseRabbit: Heya, this is Rabbit. Just wanted to pop in and say hello, and then also add that we own absolutely nothing other than Alex and Kestrel. NOTHING. NOT EVEN THE LATIN LANGUAGE, I SWEAR.**

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Alex POV

Small, black arms crept from the giant eye on the floor. I faced my best friend, Kestrel, being decomposed by the limbs. This was NOT going as planned. We just wanted to try a simple transmutation. We opened the Gate instead. I screamed as I was being stripped away by the small, black arms.

"ALEX!" My teacher, Ms. Slobbernot, shouted my name, and slammed the textbook on my desk. Great, I fell asleep...again, I thought, but that dream... Why did I have IT again? That nightmare had plagued me for weeks, and it was creeping me out. "ALEX!" The teacher was NOT amused. I looked around for Kestrel, who gave me an exasperated look. I looked at the door, then the clock. After school. I sat up and stretched.

I looked at the teacher's fuming face. "Yes?" I had always thought teachers and students are equal, we're just different ages, and have different experiences. I fought with logic, and I fought HARD.

"You fell asleep again, Miss Consilium(A/N:Latin for plan)," Snobber, as kids called her, knew this was going to be a good fight.

"Yes, I did. School is nearly over, and it's practically summer, so it's reasonable to be tired."

"Yes, but school's not over ye-," Snobber was cut off by the bell, and I internally thanked my perfect sense of timing. I met up with Kestrel and walked out.

"You fell asleep again?!" She hissed at me as we walked down the hall.

"I was..um...tired? Oh, and I had _that_ dream again." I yawned. Kestrel looked a little frightened. "Oh, don't give me that look, Kes, it's only a dream. Right, wanna come over to my house? Mom's making brownies."

"Brownies?! YAY!"

Kestrel POV

"Hey, Mom, need some help?" Alex gestured to the messy kitchen. Alex's mom was speckled with flour and wore a pink, frilly apron that contrasted with her auburn head of hair.

In fact, the mother, father, and daughter are all redheads. Alex's mother is a stay-at-home mom and the dad works late into the night. Her mom has brown eyes and is 5'6", while her dad has green eyes and is 5'7". They're an active bunch, the Consiliums. They climb trees and go on hikes and the like all the time.

Alex Consilium has frizzy red hair that goes down to her waist and lovely hazel eyes. She's a little tan, 5 feet tall, and loves Fullmetal Alchemist to bits. Alex has waay too many posters of FMA... (I mean, I like it, too, but gee!) She gets lots of strength from her dad's habit of making everyone go outdoors and be active and fun. Alex wears a pink, knitted anklet about two inches in width that holds a long knitting needle in place. Don't ask me why, I'm not quite sure. Sonething about knitting needles are as dangerous for the enemy as knives are, but they are safer for the wielder. She is so energetic and vibrant (and also rather loud at times), while I'm kind of like a quiet, faded old picture.

I'm 5'2", and I have knee-length, straight, limp, mousy brown (or kestrel brown, according to my father) hair that's usually in some sort of braid. I have round glasses and deep brown eyes that are almost black. I'm thin, though I have a bit of hidden strength (from carrying books around all over the place; I'm a bit of a bookworm). My skin is rather pale, and I have a large burn scar on my left side. I live with my father, Richard, in a small house. Mother died in a house fire a few years ago. Father never quite got over it and when he's not at one of his two jobs he's probably drinking. We're not the most well off family, but we have enough to get by.

"No, I'll be alright, you girls run upstairs and do your homework." Alex's mom was saying.

"It's a Friday, we don't have homework, Mrs. C." I said politely.

"Oh, is that so? Ah, right, Alex! One more thing- I got you that Kindle you wanted. It's chock full of Fullmetal Alchemist for you." She smiled brightly. "Happy late birthday, sweetheart!"

Alex got that look on her face like she was trying to figure something out, then she broke into a huge grin and have her mom a hug (while getting herself covered in floor, too). I couldn't help but smile at the display of affection. She then grabbed the Kindle from the table and dashed upstairs, forcing me to take it upon myself to follow.

"Yay, a Kindle! That's so cool, I've always wanted one!" I beamed at her as she plugged it into an outlet to charge.

"Speaking of which, Kestrel Anderson, you didn't remind me that your birthday was last month! I couldn't get you a present!" Alex pointed an accusing finger in my direction.

"It's not like I need anything, really." I smiled apologetically. She gave a huff and flopped down on her bed. There were FMA posters everywhere.

"Gee." She sighed. "Anyway, I finished rereading FMA for the thirteenth time around one in the morning today." Alex grinned. I gaped.

"One in the morning?! What on earth-?!" I spluttered. "No wonder you were napping in class today!" I face-palmed. "One day Ms. Slobbernot's going to kill you, and I'm going to laugh."

"You wouldn't!"

"Would!"

We laughed gaily. I enjoyed hanging out at Alex's house. There was always something to do there.

Eventually, I said that I should probably go home. Mrs. C was kind enough to say that I could stay the night if I wanted to, to which I said thank you and I agreed to it.

I ran home as fast as I could and packed stuff I needed in a bag: pjs, clothes, tooth brush, hair brush, tooth paste, a change of clothes, and a good book just in case Alex fell asleep before I did. The book I picked today was The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I also reached up to my neck to make sure my necklace was there. It was.

The locket on my necklace that I wear all the time opens to have a picture of my mother on the right and my father on the left. It is the most important thing I own.

I scribbled a note to Father telling him that I was spending the night at Alex's place and left it pinned to the fridge.

Upon my return to Alex's house, I was greeted by an excited Alex.

"I wanted to wait until you got back for the ceremonious turning on of the Kindle." She grinned.

Alex POV

The Kindle just sat in the corner, screaming for us to turn it on.

Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

I was dressed in my pajamas already, but Kestrel had only had time to take off her socks and sneakers. Her bag was still slung over her shoulder, but she merely sat down in front of the Kindle with the bag on her lap. I sat cross-legged next to her.

I reached out and turned it on.

The normal Kindle start-up screen began before the screen winked off. I slumped my shoulders, about to say something pessimistic. Suddenly, the screen turned back on, but instead of a start-up screen there was a transmutation circle. Filled with a strange sense of dread, I shut the device off.

Kestrel and I shared a look.

I turned it back on.

The same thing happened.

Almost as if we were in a trance, each of us reached out a hand and touched the circle.

Small, black arms crept from the giant eye on that opened up on the device. The circle began to emit an eerie glow. I faced my best friend, Kestrel, being decomposed by the limbs. This was NOT going as planned. We just wanted to try a simple transmutation. We opened the Gate instead. I screamed as I was being stripped away by the small, black arms.

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BlueRoseRabbit: And that concludes chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it! *bows majestically*

Dreamer372:Thank you for reading! We each did this, but this chapter's credit goes to BlueRoseRabbit! *Waves*


	2. Sugar mania!

**Dreamer372: Hey! The queen of Randomness is here! Here is the new chapter!**

**BlueRoseRabbit: We own naught but Alex Consilium and Kestrel Anderson.**

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**Alex POV**

_I was in a white void. I had no sense of time or place, yet I knew this was Truth's realm. I turned around and faced the white, smiling maniac. I sat down, and started to get out my knitting needle. I had planned this for YEARS. "Hello, truth, energy, and spirit." It smiled larger if possible._

_"Ah, Alexander Consilium. Nice to finally meet the human who figured a small piece of me out. I will make you a small deal if you do not tell anyone about your secret. You and your friend both know the secret, but it can't get out. I will let you choose your price, and your friend, hers. What is the toll you will pay?" Truth grinned. I knew that any answer I would give, he would back fire it. I choose my one dream, and I shared it with Kestrel: Our dream to become chimeras._

_"My pure humanity, a chimera, so to speak, but as human as possible please." He grinned and the gate opened. I did one last thing before the gate took me. I charged and stabbed Truth's arm with my needle, and took my needle back. I hid it, so it wouldn't get taken. I hope Kestrel was faring better than me._

**Kestrel POV**

_"Alex?" I called as I stared around the infinite white space that surrounded me. "Alex, where are you? If you're hiding, this isn't funny!" I stared around, but I didn't see anything. I considered the fact that I was in an infinite white space._

_"Mother?" I whispered. Maybe I had died and this was the afterlife._

_"Sorry, your momma isn't here, Kestrel Anderson."_

_I spun around and saw Truth him(or her)self sitting there with a creepy grin on his/her face. Isay his/her because Truth had a jutting outward chest, which, if I got closer, would probably mean breasts._

_"I thought you were ma- Oh." I muttered._

_"That's right." Truth replied in millions of voices at once, including my voice. "I'm You, so I'm 'female' as well. Now, let's make a deal. You cannot tell anyone the secrets that you and your friend know, and in exchange I'll allow you to pick your own toll."_

_"My own toll?" I frowned, then my expression became one of horror. I clutched my bag (I still had it?!) so tightly that my knuckles turned white. "You can't mean-!"_

_"I do." Truth's grin became wider._

_"But-"_

_"You have very little choice in the matter, Miss Anderson."_

_I almost chuckled at the near-reference to The Matrix, but instead I gritted my teeth._

_"Dang it!"_

_I picked my toll._

**Alex POV**

_I was taken into the Gate and shown the ultimate Truth. It hurt my head to a breaking point, but I opened my head to the information and I saw my great grandmother's figure. It had been a huge blow to mom and I. She reached out, but I just waved and I appeared back by Truth. The wound was sealed, and 'he' waved at me and asked something odd. "Why did you let your family go, Alexander?"_

_I smiled. "My mother got it into my head that she is with better people now. I KNOW it's true."_

_Truth smirked. "Right answer. As a part of the toll, you are going to the parallel universe. One you have heard of, as Shamballa."_

_I paled, in this white void of a world, and wondered once more, where is Kestrel?_

**Kestrel POV**

_I didn't resist the little black hands that drew me into the Gate, knowing that resistance was futile. I was shown so many things I thought my head would implode (or explode, who knows?) but I allowed it all to sink into my brain. I love knowledge, and this could be good for me, I suppose._

_Then I saw my mother's figure reaching her hand out to me. I desperately tried to take it, if not only for me then for my father. He needs her right now._

_But no matter how much I reached and tried to grasp her outstretched hand, it was no use. I collapsed in a heap in front of Truth._

_"You are not as good a person as your friend is. You're weak." Truth commented as I struggled to my feet, wiping tears away._

_"I know." I replied simply. Alex was the strong one, the one that could triumph over anything. I was the shadowy one, kind of like the sidekick. That's the way it was, is, and will be. I'll accept it. It's just part of life._

_Right?_

_"As part of your toll you are leaving your home and going somewhere new." Truth grinned wickedly._

_"What? No! No, you can't, Father needs me, you can't do this!" I screamed. "Nooooooo!"_

_But, as I said earlier, resistance against the black hands, the eye, Truth- It was all futile._

**Alex POV**

I woke up in a foresty area, but that's not what scared me. EVERYTHING was in focus. It scared me greatly, and I stood up. I poked around in my mind to find what happened, and I looked for the needle. I smiled as I saw it was covered in a grayish substance. I put it back in the anklet, and looked around for Kestrel. I heard some breathing in the tree and I looked up in said tree. I suddenly remembered the truth, clapped, and created vine like hands to grab my friend. They lowered the poor girl, and I looked over her to see if she was okay. She didn't really seem all that different, though were her fingernails always that pointed? And her glasses were fractured. I fixed those with a clap of my hands. I looked around, and started to get things for a log home. A few trees, sand, and many, many vines, and presto! A house.

I dragged her into it and lay her on a bed. There was something wrong with her back, but I couldn't tell what it was. Kestrel remained unconscious. Sometimes she would toss and turn, and I was scared for her. Sure, she was scared of some things, but she was never _this_affected.

But after her mom died... She just needed some support. My family understand that, and we took her under our wing. We practically became sisters!

A groan shook me from my thoughts. Kestrel sat up, and looked around. I started humming 'This Is War' by 30 Seconds to Mars to let her know I was there. She looked in my direction, and I darted over. I hugged her, and started crying. "Please...Don't scare me like that, ever again..." I started crying into her shoulder.

"Al...ex? Alex? Alex, are you okay?!" She enveloped me in a soft hug. "It's okay now. Everything's going to be okay. Sshhh..." She stroked my hair just like a mother would until I stopped crying. "Now, what was your-" She began seriously, then blinked. "My glasses.." She began, then took them off. "Alex, I can see without my glasses!" She beamed.

**Kestrel POV**

I tucked my glasses in my pants pocket, and noticed that Alex was in her pajamas. "Alex, are we anywhere near where we appeared here?" I asked, shoving my nightmare into the recesses of my mind for later contemplation.

"Yeah, why?"

"Take me there."

She led me back through the woods to the spot where we had appeared, and I searched around in the bushes until I found my bag. "Here, put my spare change of clothes on." I said, tossing her the bag. We walked back to the house and she changed clothes while I sat down, thinking.

"I put my PJs in the bag." She said as she picked leaves out of her hair.

"What was your toll?" I asked, blinking at the clear focus everything was in. My chimera form must have very good eyesight.

"I...lost my humanity." She said sheepishly, avoiding my eyes by staring at the ground.

"You became a chimera?"

"Yeah."

"Me too." I confessed.

She looked up excitedly. "Really?"

"We need to get to civilization. I'm pretty sure we're in Amestris, but we could be in Xing or Creta or something. Do you need anything special to cover up your chimera features?" I asked, looking her up and down.

**Alex POV**

She looked at me, and I did the same. I had reddish skin, black tiger lines on my arms, back, and legs, a tail (yay! OMG I GOT A TAIL!) and I poked my head to see if I got- Yep, I got cat ears. I sighed.

"I guess we need new clothes, right? What're those made of? Oh well, let's just use vines, we can change the colors later. Pants, shirts, socks, and shoes, right?" I said and looked at her. She looked a bit shaken, but seemed to be otherwise fine.

"Yeah, you definitely need shoes. At least my spare change of clothes fit you well enough. We can buy spare clothes later, so leave the vegetation alone for a while." She chided with a smile. "I have a tooth brush and tooth paste, so once we figure out where we're going to stay we can transmute a tooth brush for you, too. We're not going to stay in the forest for much longer, I hope?" She inquired. "Running water could be hard to find.."

I smirked as I clapped and redirected water from underground into metal pipes. As an afterthought, I made more knitting needles and put them in my anklet. I made a glass cup, got a drink, and ended up choking on a small rock. Ugh. I dropped the glass, shattering it. I motioned for Kes to punch my stomach or something, but instead she clapped her hands, put them against my neck, and transmuted the rock into smaller, edible chunks of something or another. I swallowed and nodded a thanks.

"I guess we found our fortes." I started laughing and held up a fist. We knuckle-bumped.

"I've always wanted to be a doctor." Kestrel grinned. "Anyway, get some sleep."

"You get some, too." I smiled at her and clambered onto a bed. She frowned.

"No, I'm not ready to go into dreamland once more." She said, looking haunted. I wondered about her nightmares. What could be plaguing her now? She tucked me in and I fell asleep.

**Kestrel POV**

I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

"Go away." I whispered to the visions of my mother that flashed through my mind. "You're dead. Stop." It wasn't working. She was still reaching her hand out to me with a smile. I sighed. What on earth are we going to do now?

I paused.

Correction: What in Amestris are we going to do now?

Since we're here, we might as well try and help Edward and Alphonse with their research, and maybe do some research of our own on how to get home. In order to get that kind of access, though, we'd need to be state alchemists... Is that allowed? Maybe. We'd have to keep our chimera identities secret.

The next day, I told Alex of my plan for us to become state alchemists to do research on how to get back home. She frowned at first, but then I told her we could help Ed and Al on the way. She happily agreed at that point. I transmuted an emergency kit for me, because I knew for sure that we were going to have to fight. I put lots of sugar in there, along with bandage supplies and such. We also transmuted Alex a hat and gloves from my pajama bottoms that I packed and we dashed to the nearest train station.

"How're we going to get on?" I frowned. I didn't know how the money system worked in Amestris (we had deduced that was where we were from the language being spoken), so we couldn't buy a ticket.

"Well, the view from the roof is nice this time of year." Alex grinned at me and I face palmed.

"No way."

"You have any other ideas?"

"..."

We ended up on the roof of the train.

**Alex POV**

After a while, we heard some crashes and a gunshot. Kes gave me a look. "It wasn't me!" I gulped, holding my hands up in surrender. I pointed to her shoulder bag. "Do you still have the sugar for emergencies? I'm pretty sure this is an emergency." Kestrel sighed, but otherwise got the sugar out. I pulled my knitting needle from my anklet and made a toast with the sugar. "Down the hatch."

Everything went into slow motion. I darted into the train and saw a guy with a gun. I grinned and twirled. "SUGAR! Sugar sugar sugar!" I got an insane look and kicked the poor man in the face. I laughed again and went into the next car. The first thing I got was a bullet to the hand. I deadpanned, then started laughing hysterically. I charged the man and stabbed his hand, causing him to drop the gun. He tried to remove the needle, but I kicked his stomach and he dropped like a fly. I removed the needle and went to the next car. It went the same until I reached one of the front cars. There were more hijackers and more passengers. I was getting slower because I was losing sugar power. I still kept going. I tried to stab that many hijackers, but if they shot me... they got stabbed in a hand or leg. I got shot a good five or six times.

I nodded to the blonde kid who helped me, then I got to the top of the train and wen to the front. I worked back. By the time I reached the blonde kid, I realized Kes had been helping me fight, too. How did she know how to paralyze people like that?!

She gave me another packet of sugar, and the hell resumed. After I reached the others again, I was hyped on sugar. I swear, at the sugar dance I did, the kid was SO sweatdropping. One of the remaining hijackers grabbed a gun, but I jumped and criss-crossed his face with slashes from my needle. I then fainted. With much sugar, I may add. This was _not_ going to settle well tomorrow.

**Kestrel POV**

I looked at my unconscious friend. "I cannot believe I let her have the emergency sugar. What was I thinking?!" I sighed as I grabbed Alex and slung her over my shoulder. I turned to Edward and Alphonse Elric, the pair who had helped us defeat the hijackers. It was soooo cool to meet them, but I had more pressing things to worry about: Alex and her bullet wounds.

"Who are you people?" Edward asked rudely. I merely sighed again.

"Look away." I said. I pulled a pair of tweezers from the emergency kit and ripped parts of her clothes and took off her gloves. I began the painful process of extracting the bullets. There was blood everywhere, but I ignored it and bandaged her up. I glanced back up to see that neither boys had looked away and Ed was staring at me with a horrified look on his face. "What? I warned you." I stared up at the wonder kid.

"I didn't know you were going to do that." He whispered.

"Hey, at least she was unconscious." I muttered as I got out bandages for my own wounds and pulled a few bullets out. I bit my lip until it bled to keep from screaming. I dropped the bloody things in the pile of Alex's bullets.

"You two should probably check into a hospital." Alphonse said, eyeing us carefully.

"I don't know." I eyed Alex fretfully. What would we do if we were found out?

I'd just have to take the chance.

When we got to the station, Colonel Roy Mustang met us there to arrest the main culprit of the hijacking. I froze next to Al, who was carrying Alex. I knew what happened next. It had given me nightmares after reading it.

The man broke free.

Mustang snapped his fingers.

BOOM!

A fiery explosion blasted the guy back a few feet and he was captured once more. My vision blurred.

Fire.

Fire fire fire fire fire-

Deep breath. This is not your house. This is Amestris. You are not in danger.

My fists clenched. I had gone a pasty white, and when Mustang came over to us I backed up behind Alphonse. Edward gave me a concerned look.

"Colonel, I think these two need to go to a hospital. Al and I fought the hijackers, but these two really did most of the work." Edward said.

"Is that so? I see. Are you alright, ma'am?" Roy reached out to reassure me, but the gloves- he was wearing the gloves, the fire creators. That horrible inferno-

"Don't touch me!" I whispered in a terrified voice as I edged back. Mustang looked shocked and hurt, and I tried to push down my guilt. He backed off and ordered the militia men to get stretchers. They brought us to the hospital in a car, where I spoke to a doctor after refusing treatment.

"We're...not exactly human. I need you to keep this strictly confidential. No alerting the military unless they ask. Got it?" I said quickly, trying to ignore my panicked visions of the house fire that swam in my mind.

"Not human?!" The doctor gulped. I glared at him.

"Deal with it. Just heal her, please. We need to get better ASAP. And _don't tell the military_. You hear me?" I held up my hand and my fingernails extended into birdlike talons. The doctor paled, nodded, and ran to treat my friend.

**Alex POV**

I woke up in a hospital.

I woke up... in a hospital?

I looked down at my hands and saw the IV with a needle plugged into my hand. "NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDLLLLLLL EEEEEEEEEE!" I screamed. Kes, the blonde kid, and the armor burst in. Kes started laughing behind her hand. I grabbed the closes thing to me, the IV stand, and chucked it at her. I ripped the needle out of my hand and started running around the room, shrieking. Kes calmly dodged the stand, walked over to me, grabbed me, and slapped me. I blinked, then grinned. I started laughing. "Thanks, Kes. Just like Mrs. Peacock, from Clue. There is no better way to shut me up." Soon Kes and I were roaring with laughter at the craziness of the situation. I started rolling on the ground, laughing my guts out. The two boys stared at us like we were insane.

"Thanks, Alex. I needed that." Kestrel calmed down and helped me to my feet. I studied her face, alarmed at that statement. She looked rather unwell, like she hadn't slept in years and had just witnessed a murder.

"Kes, you okay?" I asked.

"We'll talk later." She shook her head and put her finger to her lips in a 'sshh' sort of way. "Now, I'd like to introduce you to the Elric brothers."

I blinked. "Gimme a minute," I said rubbing my temples. I looked up, and pointed to Kes "Kestrel." I pointed to Al, "Alphonse." I pointed to Ed, "Edward. ...you are the size of a pudgie." I giggled. Ed and Al looked at me funny.  
"Uh, what's a pudgie?" asked Ed in a scared voice.  
"A pudgie, is something not to be messed with," I said in a crazy, scared, deep voice. Ed and Al shared a look, and Kes and I shared one too. It was only the two of us though, that cracked up laughing. "Wait! Where are my knitting needles?!" I shrieked. Kes got them out of her pack. "YAY! THANK YOU CHIBI-CHAN! CHEESEBURGER! Ah, shit, I still got sugar in my system. Knock me out before I start jumping off the walls," I said, but because of the look Kes gave me, I added, "...again."

The brothers just looked at us like we were crazy.

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**Dreamer372: thank you for reading! If it helps, I am Alex, and Rabbit is Kestrel!**

**BlueRoseRabbit: Welp, that cat is out of the bag. See you next time!**


	3. The invitation

**Dreamer372: Hello again! Here is a new chapter!**

**BlueRoseRabbit: I don't know morse code, it was Dreamer's idea. x3**

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**Kestrel POV**

"So.. where're you two from?" Edward asked once we had calmed down.

"Oh, nowhere in particular." I said cautiously. I mean, I love the brothers as much as the next otaku, but they can't know. Not yet. "I'm Kestrel, by the way. This loopy woman is Alex."

"How did you fight those hijackers like that?" Al asked Alex in awe. She grinned.

"Oh, you know, sugar." She gave me a wink. I hid a chuckle with my hand as the brothers looked confused.

"Colonel Mustang is going to want to see you soon." Alphonse said when we were done. I blanched.

"I think Alex needs some more rest. She has been shot, you know!" I pushed her back down onto the bed and she tucked herself in obediently. I shooed Ed and Al out of the room and sat on the bed near Alex.

"You need some rest, too, Kes. You were also shot, right?" Alex gave me a concerned look.

"What are we going to do when they figure out that we're chimeras and we're not from this planet? Ed's gonna be pissed when he learns we hid it from him." I asked worriedly.

"We might as well tell them now." Alex replied. "If they'll figure it out eventually anyway, why not reveal it? It'll lower Ed's anger level, at least."

I paused, tried to come up with a good argument, failed, and sighed in defeat. "Fine. But we can't reveal this to anyone but them. We cannot tell the military or we'd be taken away for testing. Got it? Only. The. Elrics." I gave her a determined stare. She gulped and nodded. My gaze softened. "Get some rest, Alex." I said, and she obediently closed her eyes and went to sleep.

I allowed the boys back in.

"Her hair is such a pretty red." Al commented quietly as he sat down in a chair. Ed sat cross legged on the floor since I was in the only other chair.

"Comes from her Irish heritage. Her family is of gypsy decent. Kids teased her at her old school. Then she moved to my town and everything was different." I smiled at the thought.

"Irish?" Ed asked with a frown.

"Oh, er," I paused. Crap! Should I tell them now? Should I wait for Alex to wake up?

I didn't have to wait long.

**Alex POV**

_I looked around. I was in a dark, dank basement. A shadow moved towards me, but stopped. A light flared, and Tucker and a wolf was revealed. My eyes opened in comprehension, and I screamed, then blacked out with pain._

I woke up crying and screaming. Kes came over with a start. She gave me a hug to calm me down. Ed and Al were looking worried, and ...like I was an alien, but if they found out... I cried and hugged Kes. I whispered in her ear, "Night of Tucker's transmutation, take Nina and hide." She nodded, and _knew _I wasn't kidding. I sniffled and turned to Ed and Al.

"I assume Kestrel told you about my family..." I said, my hair hiding my eyes. I saw them share a look and nod. "She's right. I'm from a family of gypsies. Know what my last name is?" I asked, earning a shake of the head. "Consilium. My family has the trait of getting, um, what's a good term?" I asked, rolling my hand in the air.

"Premonitions?" Kestrel suggested.

"Yeah, that's it. We earned that name because we could see the future in our sleep. We were able to create a plan by then, and thus, we earned our name. Consilium- for me, it's a cursed name. I was teased, just because of that _trait_." I spat out the last word. I looked at them. "Are you going to run away, or call me a freak?" I asked with a frozen gaze that hid a painful past. Kes put her hand on my shoulder. My face scrunched up, and I broke down. Kes motioned for them to leave, and she took a look back.

"Your not a freak, Alex." She left to give me a bit of privacy.

**Kestrel POV**

"Is she okay?" Ed asked worriedly. I nodded.

"We'll give her a little space; she'll be fine soon." I leaned against a wall, suddenly exhausted.

"Are _you_ okay?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I might be going insane. I wonder if this is all a dream?" I looked him dead in the eyes. "Are you just a figment of my sick, twisted mind, Edward? Am I going to wake up in the hospital, and they'll say that I've been in a coma since the house burned down, and everything I've experienced; my friendship with Alex, reading FMA, my dad's drinking problem: it should all be discarded, because it was just some twisted dream?" I felt myself going blank, which made me panicky.

"Hey-" Ed grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me.

"I need some coffee." I said shakily.

They didn't have coffee at the hospital, but they had tea, which I accepted gratefully. I decided to tell Ed and Al a story about the time when a blind guy tripped me on accident and I dropped all my books and he dropped a grocery bag or two. Alex and I helped him home. He didn't trip once, but on the way back Alex tripped over a ladybug and fell face first into horse dung. We all laughed.

**Alex POV**

Later, I came back out with a grin on my face. I went up to a desk, and started staring at the lady. She looked up, and asked "Yes?"

"I'm trying to figure out your name." She looked at me funny.

"Mary."

"Do you know where my friends are?" She pointed down the hall. "Thank you." I saw the three looking at me and laughing.

"Alex, I think you'll give that poor lady nightmares. You stare at people too strangely." Kestrel said, trying to stop laughing, but failing miserably. I rolled my hand in a _go on_ motion. "You've got the evil eye." I started laughing too, and fell on the floor. The brothers joined in.

"Okay, any questions?" I asked once I stopped laughing.

"Yes, is that a cat ear sticking out of your hair?" asked a voice behind me. Because it is extremely hard for people to sneak up on me, I jumped two feet in the air and took out a knitting needle, moving to a defensive stance. Mustang raised an eyebrow, and Kestrel moved behind me. I glared at him, but sighed.

I looked around, then said "Come on, all of you," and I walked to the room. They follow, with Kes at my heels. I sighed after I got on the bed. "Somebody shut the door. This needs to be private. Al did so, and I continued. "Yes, and there are a few things. Number one: I'm a tiger chimera, and _don't freak out._ Two: we aren't exactly from here, but we want to become state alchemists. Three:" I took a big breath, but tapped it in morse code, hoping Mustang knew (was there even a morse code in Amestris?): .-(-) ./ .- .-. ./ -. - -/ ..-. .-. - -/ - ... .. .../ ... .. -.. ./ - ..-./ - ... ./ -. .- - ./.. .. ../ .-. .-.. . .- ... ./ - . .-.. .-../ - ... ./ -... .-. - - ... . .-. .../(Translates to: "We are not from this side of the gate. Please tell the brothers.")

He gave me a look then sighed. He turned to Ed and Al, and whispered it to them. "They're from the other side of the Gate, whatever that means."

Their eyes grew wide, and Ed dashed forward, and grabbed my collar. "Why? Why didn't you tell us? Why did you not tel-" he was cut off by me. I had bitten him, his left hand, mind you. I could feel my teeth growing sharper, and I had a lust to kill. I grew wide eyed, and dashed to the far corner of the room.

"_Don't, please, help... help..."_ I started sobbing. Everyone was looking at me, and Kes was walking over to me slowly. I felt the tiger in me growing, and I went to the closest exit: the window. I jumped out, resisting the urge to eat her, she smelled like such a delicious bird.

I had to get away.

**Edward POV**

"Alex, wait!" Kestrel cried as Alex dashed across the hospital lawn. Tears streamed down Kestrel's face as she leaned out the window, calling for Alex to come back.

"What the hell was that?!" I yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders. She backed up.

"We have to get her! Come on, she's scared! Please!" She looked up at us desperately. I groaned.

"Fine. Colonel?" I looked to him for help.

"I can get military officers with a search party-" Mustang began, but Kestrel cut him off.

"Absolutely not!" She yelled. "We cannot have the military knowing about her being a chimera- You won't tell the Fuhrer, right?!" She stared at him with a scared face. He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"I'm going to get in so much trouble for this..." He groaned.

"Alright, I'll try and track her down. You run through town and search." Kestrel nodded to us and leapt out the window, clung to a tree for a moment, then jumped to the ground and dashed off. I ran to the window.

"Today is sooo weird." I muttered.

**Alex POV**

I had to get away. I had to get away before someone else got hurt.

I ran in the trees. I seriously had to thank Dad later, my wilderness instincts were coming in handy. I felt the tiger disappearing, so I dropped to the ground and rested. I started singing Oh! Gravity by Switchfoot. I looked around and saw I was in the HQ parade grounds. How I got there, I had no clue. I heard foot falls, so I looked to see Kes running toward me. I felt the tiger coming back, so I put up my hands, pointed to my mouth, and then my heart. The tiger was rising even more, and I _couldn't _let it out. I clapped, and created a good 75-foot-tall wall around me, with me at the 50-foot area. I hoped Kes would understand. After about thirty seconds, soldiers started piling out to see the commotion. Ed and Al were coming out, and Kes was climbing the tree.

I sat, and held my hand. A sword sank itself into some wood next to me. I fell off the brach. I heard my father's advice ringing in my ear: _Spread out, land on your feet, and roll._ I spread my arms and legs out, and when the ground was approaching, I landed on my feet, and threw myself to the side, to throw off the weight. I got a tackle from my friend, who had caught my hat before _that_secret could be seen. I hugged her. " I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no one else could get hurt. The tiger came out, I'm sorry."

Kes helped me up, but _thank_ God, no one was badly hurt. Mainly, me. "Come on. I think the person whom we have to apologize to is on his way here." And first thing I saw when I turned around is a fist in my face. I dodged, and said a quick "sorry".

Ed huffed, "Well, you'd better be. If it weren't for Kestrel's medical alchemy, I'd have to get poked with a needle!"

I noticed the Fuhrer talking with Mustang. I cocked my head, and Mustang saluted to the leader of the country. He was dismissed, and walked over to us. "Well, ladies. Want to be state alchemists?" He asked with his customary smirk.

**Kestrel POV**

We had been driven back to the hospital by Mustang. The ride (for me) was absolutely terrifying, considering that I was afraid he'd burn us all to death at any point in time. I don't know where Ed and Al went, probably somewhere like Hughes's house.

Wait- No, they'd be at Tucker's house right about now.

Nina will still be safe for another day, right? "How many days passed between Ed and Al meeting Tucker and the night of Nina's fusion with Alexander?" I asked Alex, who was almost asleep but not quite.

"I don't wanna be fused with Nina." She murmured sleepily, hearing "Alexander" and thinking I met her. I shook her awake.

"Not you, dummy, the dog." I said, staring into her suddenly awake (and rather confused) face.

"What dog?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was going to need headache medicine by the time this was done if things continued in this fashion. "I said, 'How many days passed between Ed and Al meeting Tucker and the night of Nina's fusion with Alexander?'"

"I dunno, a week, maybe?" She yawned.

"This is serious, Alex, wake up!" I grabbed her by her shirt collar and shook her. She blinked once more and sighed.

"Alright, alright." She raised her hands in surrender. "Just put me down, okay? You smell absolutely delicious."

I dropped her unceremoniously. "Now, what should I do about Nina? How're we going to know what day it is?"

"Well, if we're not actually invited to go in there, just hang around the place like a bird-ninja or something until you see when Havoc or whoever tells Tucker that evaluation day is coming up. Then, stalk Nina until he goes to transmute her. I'll keep Tucker distracted while you hide Nina." Alex said. I blinked.

"That's actually a pretty good plan." I said, then I frowned. "But please, be safe. I don't want you distracting Tucker and then-" I choked up.

"I'll be safe." She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, and I nodded.

"So, about the state alchemist testing.." I began. Alex perked up. "Do not, under any circumstances, reveal yourself, chimera-wise or other-universe-wise, to the Fuhrer or any more military officers. I am not quite sure whether this storyline is the mangaverse or the 2003 anime or something bizarrely different, but either way I'm sure the Fuhrer is a homunculus." I gave her the death stare until she nodded. "Alright? Good. Okay. I think testing for State Alchemist-hood is a good idea, but we should wait until after Nina so we don't have our licenses revoked for kidnapping a child." I finished with a sigh. "Oh, right, and we have to tell Edward not to tell Tucker that you're a chimera. Things would all come crashing down on us then."

"Just me? What about you?" She frowned.

"Well, I didn't tell them about me outright, but since I jumped from that window, too, they may have their suspicions. You only said that you were a tiger chimera, remember?" I said.

"Well, I didn't know what you were at the time. I've figured it out now, from your scent. It's bird, isn't it? Some kind of bird..." Alex took a good sniff.

"Chill, there, bloodhound. We don't need you smelling people all the time, that would alert someone instantly." I patted her nose affectionately. "I still find it hard to believe I'm a bird chimera- Oh, wait, now I see. Truth has a hilarious sense of humor. Kestrel, the bird chimera." I laughed bitterly. "At least I wasn't the worm chimera. That would've been way worse." I shuddered at the thought. Alex looked confused but shrugged it off.

"Now that we've gotten that settled can I _please_ go back to sleep?" She begged. I consented and she promptly lay back and passed out. I decided I'd take a nap in a chair.

**Mustang POV**

"This is so frustrating." I muttered to myself as I left my office. I didn't know where I was going, but I was sick of paperwork.

So two girls help Ed and Al fight the hijackers on the train. One of them, Kestrel, happens to be terrified of me. I mean, that doesn't even make sense! She sees me blow up that guy, and then she won't let me touch her. Normal girls would be swooning, like "Oh, Mustang, you saved the day!" Furthermore, every time I see them, for example, in the hospital hallway when I mentioned Alex's tiger ear, she cowers away, this time behind Alex. Why is she so afraid of me? Is she a chimera, as well? Alex never said she was, but she managed to jump out of a window and cling to a tree rather well. And then the Fuhrer wanted to offer them the chance to test as state alchemists?!

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I was getting a headache.

Then, a thought occurred to me.

During the state alchemist testing, I could try and observe the girls more to figure them out! After all, we need to know about the other side of the Gate, which obviously meant something to Edward and Alphonse, even if I didn't understand.

This could actually work.

**? POV**

"I have found another, to be used for backup. The circle-less part has been confirmed, unlike with one of the candidates. A young chimera girl who doesn't have to use a circle to transmute."

"Oh? That's very good. Let me know about any further developments."

"Yes."

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**BlueRoseRabbit: That's all for now!**

**Dreamer372: We will attempt to update soon! Cake for ALL! *Holds out cake and other random dishes and utensils* 'Til next time!**


	4. Tucker is a bad man

**Dreamer372: HELLO AGAIN! Here is a new chapter!**

**BlueRoseRabbit: I don't have much to say xDD**

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**Alex POV**

We were in a hotel Ed checked us into, sitting around in a circle. I had "broken" into Kes's pack and eaten two or three packs of sugar. I swear on my fuzzy red head, after thirty seconds of literally bouncing off the walls, Ed had had enough and he transmuted the floor around me. After I had slightly calmed down, I chuckled.

"Why don't we play Truth, Dare, or Revealed?" I suggested slyly. Ed gave me a strange look.

"What the hell is 'Truth, Dare, or Revealed'?" He asked. Kes and I shared a look and laughed at the memories of other times we had played this game.

"It's a game I made up. You need at least four people, which we have, and a past known between at least two pairs, like Kes and I and you and Al." I spoke to Edward. "We have to ask for a truth or dare, but if we say something untruthful or we don't do a dare, our partner reveals something embarrassing about an event or somethin'. It's rather simple." I clapped my hands briefly, imagining the fun we were about to have.

"But Alex, we know about their past, remember?" Kestrel whispered.

"Not that much, just the important stuff." I elbowed her so she'd shut up and let us play.

Ed sighed. "Fine. Alex, how the HELL do you get so energetic when you eat sugar?"

"I dunno." I said. Kes elbowed me.

"Yes, you do. Tell them, or I"ll tell them about the time at the park with the poor rodent." She grinned. I got wide eyed. I recalled the poor squirrel I sat on at the park a couple years back. It had bitten me, and I couldn't sit correctly for weeks.

"Don't you dare! If you do, I'll tell them about the time with the table and sharp napkin!" I yelled back. She turned beet red.

"Not cool! If you do that, I'll tell about the haunted toilet disproving!" She yelled.

I shuddered as I recalled having to unclog our neighbour's toilet to prove to her it wasn't haunted (she had been bugging us for weeks). "I'LL TELL THEM ABOUT THE THREE POLES AND YOUR BOOKS!" Somehow we had both stood up and now we were pretty much at each other's throats.

"I'LL TELL THEM ABOUT THE FOOD FIGHT 'YOU' STARTED!" She retorted. I glanced over to see Ed and Al (I swear!) sweatdropping. Kes looked, too, and then we looked at each other again. I burst out laughing and fell to the floor, clutching my gut. Soon, Kes had joined me, laughing her head off. We kept laughing until I got a cough. I coughed for what felt like a long time until Kestrel slammed her fist into my back. I then ran to get a glass of water. I heard Ed and Al talking to Kestrel in the room.

"We never did find out why she gets excited when she eats sugar." Al noted. I heard Ed facepalm.

"You people are crazy." he muttered.

"AGREED." I shouted. I could almost hear them sweatdropping. I raided the food-chest or whatever it's called. I took out three apples and some beef jerky, completely forgetting about water when I saw that yummy meat. I chewed the jerky while trying to catch up on the conversation. I walked up to the door and banged loudly on it. I heard a crash and someone walking towards me. Feeling like pranking the boys, I jumped behind the couch to hide. What I didn't know was that my tail had come out of my pants and was swishing from side to side, visible to anyone in the doorway. A great pain from my tail and I jumped, startled, only to get pulled back down again. I turned around to see that Edward had stepped on my tail. Tears swam in my eyes. In a matter of seconds Kestrel had shoved Ed to the ground and was yelling at him.

"Watch where you're stepping!" She yelled, then turned to help me up. "You okay, Alex?" She asked with concern, pulling me to my feet.

"Yeah, just FINE," I said sarcastically, but softened. "Sorry, but when your nerves are on fi-" I stopped halfway through the word as Kes's eyes darted to the floor. I shut my mouth and gave her a hug. I mumbled, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Ed looked at us with confused eyes. I pulled out of the hug, and offered a hand to Ed. He grabbed it, and I pulled him up. I then proceeded to punch him in the face. "If I were you, I wouldn't do that again. By the way, don't mention Colonel Bastard or his alchemical specialty around her. Bad memories." I said the last part into his ear.

I thought for a moment, then shouted one of my many phrases "DON'T QUESTION MY MOTIVES!" Kes smiled a bit, and Ed and Al looked at each other, and gave me what I guess is a WTH face. I giggled behind my hand.

There were three knocks at the door. "Can I come in?" Mustang's voice floated through the door. Kes paled and wordlessly retreated to her bedroom. I frowned, but once Kes's door shut, I got up and opened the door. "I know you're probably curious, so, Mustang," He turned and looked at me. "She doesn't hate you. She just hates flames." I told him bluntly. He blinked, took off his gloves, and slipped them in his pocket. I went to get Kes and knocked on her door. I poked my head in and simply said, "Mustang's gloves are in his pocket. You can come out. I WILL drag you you out by your ear if I have to." She meeped, dashed out, and jumped onto the couch. I could tell she was still a bit tense. I tapped out 'stay in front of her, and keep your hands out of your pockets.' in morse code. He nodded, and sat across from her.

"I simply want to ask some questions," he explained, holding up his hands in surrender. Kestrel nodded hesitantly as Ed, Al and I took seats as well.

"H-how can I help you?" She asked.

"Are you a chimera?" He asked bluntly.

She nodded. "I'm a bird chimera."

"I was wondering if you would be interested in helping an alchemist named Shou Tucker with his research. He's very interested in chimeras."

My eyes flashed briefly, and Mustang stiffened, noticing. I looked him straight in the eye. "I'll do it. Only me. He can't know Kestrel is a chimera." Kestrel looked like she was about to object, but she wisely stayed quiet. "I've heard a bit about the man, and I have to ask: Is he going to cut me up, turn me in, or keep me there?" I held my head high. I despised Tucker. The man doesn't deserve to be a father. Even Ed's good-for-nothing (other than saving the day in Brotherhood) father was better than him.

Mustang eyed us curiously, but promised that Ed and Al would keep an eye on Tucker to make sure he didn't do anything to me. I had a sudden thought, held up a finger as if to say, "just a moment", and ran to get my special needle. I found it in Kestrel's bag and I tossed it to Ed. He examined it, noticed the grey stuff, and frowned, obviously not understanding.

"Truth." was all I said, and his eyes widened. I grinned and he gave me a hug. I patted his back awkwardly, then noticed the others looking at us with great amusement. I whispered the three forbidden words, "chibi", "shorty", and "pipsqueak". He started shouting at me, but I punched him. He stepped on my tail and I dropped like a fly. I tensed up and started growling. "Get. Off. My. Tail." Ed got off obediently and I shakily sat down on the couch, where Kes patted my back sympathetically. I looked over at Mustang and said, "When do we see the man?"

Mustang grinned.

**Kestrel POV**

"Woooaaaaah, this house is huge!" Alex looked up at the place with amazement written all over her face.

"Yup." Ed knocked on the door and Nina opened it with a big smile. "We're back, Nina." He patted her head. I felt a pang in my heart, thinking of how she would die if we failed.

Ed, Al, and Alex went into the house. I had been spying on them from the trees. I was only able to hear them because of my bird senses. Alex bowed, but I could tell she was still tense. They sat down at the table, and I could see clearly Alex showing him her ears and tail. He jumped up, and asked something incoherent. She stiffed and nodded. Ed looked about to object, but Alex held up a hand. He still didn't look like he agreed. Tucker got up, as did the other three. I saw Ed said something along the lines of 'we're not leaving her alone.' Tucker nodded.

Mine and Alex's official plan was that I'd make friends with Nina, and then hide in Tucker's house at night to keep an eye on her. On the night of the transmutation, I'd hide Nina while Alex distracted Tucker and maybe make him have a little "accident".

**Alex POV**

I had gotten poked, prodded, and studied. Tucker poked my ear, my tail twitched; I got a weight on my tail, my ears went back. I found out I had claws. It was PAINFUL as HELL. Ed and Al sometimes looked ready to, um, I guess knock his daylights out. I looked out the window of the slow-moving car, and sighed. Kes had, at some point, made him _think_he saw her in the house. He had come to ask us about a brown haired girl with long claws, and I had signaled Ed and Al to act unknowing. It worked. In other words, Tucker thinks he's having hallucinations, and is acting super paranoid. Kes found a part in the house to hide, and when Tucker isn't around, she plays secretly with Nina.

It had been a few days since our first meeting with Tucker, and none of us had spoken to Kestrel at all, but judging by Tucker's increased skittishness she was still in the house somewhere. We were in the car on our way to Tucker's when I saw it.

It was a reddish mass by the side of the road, and it twitched. "STOP THE CAR!" I shouted, and, not caring if it was stopped or not, jumped out. I twisted my ankle in the process, but oh well. There was a growl, and I shivered. Wolf.

Wait... WOLF! I looked closer at it, and saw it was a small wolf with red fur, bleeding from a medium-sized gash in it's side. I frowned, and picked the poor thing up.

It growled at me, but I growled back. The female (I checked), shut up, and leaned into my arms. Havoc, Ed, and Al looked at me oddly. I shrugged, placed her on the ground near the car, and tore a piece of cloth from my sleeve. I pressed it to the wound, and she growled. I growled back, and focused on the cut again. It was a bit deep, but it wasn't infected. I'd have Kestrel check the wound out as soon as possible.

"Why the hell are you helping that thing?" asked Ed. I looked up at him, and my gaze hardened.

"I have a soft spot for wolves. My family adopted one from the woods. We found the thing whimpering and hungry. It died a few years ago," I said. I had gotten a few bites from it, and I _had _developed a soft spot for them. I shrugged, and picked it up. I got in the car, put in my lap, and smiled softly. The canine had fallen asleep, but not _truly._Wild animals never did.

Kestrel would understand. She and I are wild now, and even though she wouldn't go near my first wolf, maybe she'd like this one.

We got to Tucker's house shortly after that. Ed was tackled by Alexander, Nina hugged Al, and Tucker met me at the doorway.

"What have you got today, Miss Alex?" He asked in his timid voice, the bastard. I forced myself to be polite.

"I found an injured wolf on the side of the road. Could we treat it, please?" I asked in the nicest voice I could manage. He sighed, nodded, and we all went inside. Nina dashed off to play with Alexander (and probably Kestrel), Ed and Alex headed to Tucker's library, and Tucker and I brought the wolf to the kitchen table. He brought out some bandages and we fixed her right up. I tapped on the table in morse code, smelling Kestrel nearby. She had probably come in the house when she saw the wolf, and I was certain she heard my tapping with those sharp bird senses of hers. I told her, "heal the wolf". I convinced Tucker to take me off for testing and we left the wolf unattended.

**Kestrel POV**

"You poor baby." I edged around the she-wolf as slowly as I could so she wouldn't be startled, but I made soft cooing noises so she'd know I was friendly. She merely whined in response. I petted her and accidentally nudged her paw. She snarled, I checked the wound out, grabbed some bandages, and swore. "Alex, you dimwit. You didn't check all over her for wounds, just the obvious bits." I sighed. She had taken care of the gash in the wolf's side well, but she failed to notice the chunk torn out of her paw.

I transmuted a bit of new flesh from a bit of meat in the fridge and data from the wolf's remaining tissue cells and wrapped bandages tightly around the paw, knowing that with a little alchemical help (I clapped and provided it) the flesh would grow back good as new. I looked at the gash on her side and deemed that stitches were warranted, so I transmuted a needle and thread and knocked the wolf out. I found a nerve bundle and disabled it so the she-wolf would not feel the stitches. I set to work right away.

After I was done, I reestablished the nerve connections, albeit gently. The she-wolf would be in pain when she woke up.

"Miss?" Nina walked in with Alexander.

"Nina, I told you to keep quiet, your papa cannot know I'm here." I knelt down and gave her a pat on the head. "Why don't you go take a nap? You and I can play later tonight." She nodded and ran off.

"I feel like a stalker and a soon-to-be-kidnapper." I muttered as I climbed some stairs. I paused. "Actually, that's what I am, really. Who could've known this is what I'd become? Certainly wasn't a childhood dream of mine." I climbed out a window and ended up perched in a shadowy spot on the roof. I watched Ed, Nina, Al, Alex, and Alexander romp around in the yard. "Now, lets just keep an eye on things, shall we?"

**Alex POV**

"I'm here to get you three." Havoc wiggled his cigarette. Nina, Alexander, Alphonse, Edward, and I were playing in the front yard. Ed and Al had taken a break from research to play with Nina and Alexander since they were "bored" (Kestrel needed a nap). As we started piling in the car, Havoc hung back to give Tucker a message. I froze.

This was the "evaluation day" message.

According to the Brotherhood manga, there'd be one more day after this until the transmutation of Nina. I'd have to come back to the house later to warn Kestrel. Or maybe Nina would tell her? I dunno. I'd come back after dark just in case.

We stopped at a restaurant and had dinner. It was delicious. I felt a little guilty about eating it because I knew that Kestrel was probably living off berries and worms (unless she was stealing from Tucker's kitchen), but I ate anyway. When we got to the hotel, I gave it about an hour, then I decided I'd pay Kes a visit. We hadn't spoken face to face since before Tucker, though we had been communicating through morse code every once and a while. Ed and Al thought Kestrel was on a pre-alchemy test mission for the Fuhrer, and I doubt the Fuhrer knew anything about what was going on.

"Where're you going?" Ed asked as I opened the window.

"Oh, just thought I'd take a walk." I bluffed.

"You don't wanna use the door?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Jumping out windows gives me that rush of adrenaline." I grinned at him wildly and jumped. I heard Ed sigh as the wind rushed past my faced and I landed on my feet. I walked calmly until the hotel was out of sight, then ran like lightning for Tucker's place.

When I got there, I climbed up a tree to a limb close to the roof and leapt from the limb to there. Kestrel was napping on the rooftop. "Kes!" I gave her a nudge and she made sleepy noises. "Get up!" She groaned and sat up.

"Alex, what're you doing here?" She asked.

"The transmutation day is in the day after tomorrow. Be prepared to snag Nina tomorrow night. I'll arrive at Tucker's house early the next day and distract him while you get Mustang and co. to arrest him. You can have the reason being that he transmuted his wife into the first chimera two years ago. Got it?" I stared into her eyes. She nodded.

"I know." She gave me a hug. "Be safe. I'll see you soon."

"'Kay." I hugged her back and then jumped off the roof.

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**BlueRoseRabbit: Ooh, I'm excited to write the next chapter.**

**Dreamer372: I have many sayings still to use.**


	5. We won't give up that easily

**Dreamer372: HELLO! CHEESEBURGER! NICE TO SEE EVERYONE AGAIN! CAKE FOR ALL! *throws random cake pieces in the air***

**BlueRoseRabbit: S'okay, I've got her in a straight jacket now. We own nothing but Kes and Alex!**

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**Alex POV**

I looked around. I was in a dark, dank basement. A light flared and Tucker and the she-wolf were revealed. My eyes widened in comprehension.

The scene changed. I was staring up at Edward's face, who asked the "Where are Alexander and Nina?" question. Then Kes was there, she said something, and Edward's face dawned in understanding. He turned back to me with a horrified look on his face.

I screamed.

**Edward POV**

Al and I heard screaming, like the screaming at the hospital. We dashed to Alex's room to find her sweating, crying, and, as much as it kills me to admit it, screaming like the girl she wasn't. She was in the throe of a nightmare, thrashing in her sheets. I grabbed her and shook her to woke her up.

More thrashing and crying.

"Alex! Alex!" I yelled. "Damnit, Alex, wake up!" I shook her again and her eyes fluttered open. She looked terrified.

"I won't give up that easily. Not yet." She whispered, then collapsed again. Al and I shared a look. What did she mean? She seemed to be sleeping a little better now, but she was curled into a tight ball with her tail pulled close to her.

"Brother, what did she mean by, 'I won't give up that easily'?" Al asked me in a whisper so he wouldn't wake her. He and I walked out of her room and sat back down on the couch.

"I don't know, Al." I murmured. We thought about it for a while after that.

**Alex POV**

I had left the hotel around eight o clock at night. We had come back from Tucker's house a couple hours earlier, and I had seen him in his room bent over his notes fretfully. I knew it would be tonight/tomorrow morning.

I gave Ed the excuse that I wanted to go back and check on the wolf, and he believed me. Of course, as I walked out I happened to run straight into a pole, which may have caused them to think that I was distracted and stressed out. Which I was, but there's no need for them to know that. Ed mostly ignored me as I struggled to get up (I'm sure now that Kestrel told him the story about the blind man and me and horse dung), telling Al (who was panicking about me walking into the pole) that they should go inside 'cause he was tired. I stuck my tongue out at Ed and moved on.

I needed to discuss the nightmare with Kestrel.

**Kestrel POV**

"Nina, wake up." I stood by her bedside, shaking her awake.

"Mmm? Miss, what are you doing here?" She murmured sleepily. "You didn't play much with me today."

That was because I had been keeping an eye on Tucker. There had been a couple of close calls, but I managed to trick him into thinking he saw a winged girl illusion (I didn't have wings, of course, but I added it to his vision just for show). He had been increasingly jumpy and nervous because he saw me all the time. I heard him mutter about "angel of justice", and almost smirked. He must know that what he was doing was wrong, or at least felt a little guilty about it.

"Sorry, Nina." I whispered, then grabbed some clothes out of her closet. "I'll make it up to you. Why don't you get dressed and we'll go for a walk? We can even bring Alexander."

"Okay!" She said cheerfully. I hurried her out the door with Alexander on a leash as soon as she was dressed. I hurried through the city, desperate to find a safe place.

Aha! Hotel.

I transmuted some gold from some dirt and walked Nina inside. "Please get me a room for this young girl and see to her every need. I'll be back later." I dumped the gold on the counter. The guy working the counter looked very alarmed and excited at the amount of money I just deposited there.

"Will do, Miss-?"

"Call me Miss Anderson." I knelt down and patted Nina on the head. "I'll come back and explain it to you soon, okay, dear? Just stay here where it's safe." I gave her a comforting smile as the counter-man led her and the big dog upstairs to a room. After the two had left the lobby, I tried to remember what the military's phone number was. Oh, forget it. I'll just get the phone operator.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"I need you to patch me to the military, Mustang's office, pronto. It's an emergency." I tried to remember Hughes's code.

Once I had spoken the emergency code, they patched me to Mustang.

"Hughes, you'd better not be using this line to brag about your family." Mustang sighed. I shivered. He had used similar words speaking to Hughes during Hughes's murder.

"It's Kestrel Anderson." I licked my lips nervously.

"How did you get Hughes's code? Have you even met Hughes?!"

"No time. I need the police or something at Tucker's place, pronto. Remember his talking chimera two years ago, and his wife leaving him about the same time?" I gritted my teeth.

"What of it?" Mustang asked suspiciously. I suddenly remembered it was Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. I trembled a little but kept talking.

"W-what if I told you that his wife was the chimera?"

"What?!"

"Hurry." I hung up. The outrage and shock in his voice had scared me. It wasn't as bad as when he was talking to Envy in Brotherhood about Hughes's murder, but it reminded me that Mustang had the power to burn your eyes out.

I took a deep breath and departed calmly, then broke into a furious run after I had lost sight of the hotel.

"Alright, now to make sure that somehow Ed and Al end up meeting Scar without dying." I muttered. That would mean that they'd have to leave the military apartments a few hours from now, Scar kills Tucker and heads in the same direction, someone gets Mustang over there, and the encounter happens.

But they can't kill Scar or we're all screwed.

Gosh, meddling is hard work. You've got to try and make sure things turn out the way they're supposed, but better.

But what if, by changing this, the entire future changes? What if the Dwarf in the Flask wins because I wanted to save Nina?

Best not dwell on it.

**Alex POV**

I stayed at Tucker's house, "reading" in his library, waiting for it to be time for the transmutation. I had looked around for Kestrel, but she, Nina, and the dog who stole my name were gone. I could only hope that they were on the "walk" like we planned.

The nightmare... The details were kind of hazy. Something important happens. Something-

I yawned. Gosh, I needed a nap. I stretched and then felt my hands pinned behind my back. I thrashed until the cloth came around and covered my mouth and nose, you know, the kind that knocks you unconscious. I blacked out.

It was too damn early in the morning for this.

**Edward POV**

"She's been gone for a long time now, Brother." Al said worriedly.

"She can take care of herself." I yawned. "Maybe she's staying the night at Tucker's. You know how he gets with his chimera experiments. Nina seems to have grown on her, too." I smiled at the thought of us all playing together in the yard.

"I guess." Al sounded doubtful.

"We'll see her when we head over. We can go an hour or two after dawn, okay?" I patted his metal shoulder. He nodded.

"Hey, we haven't seen Kestrel in a while, either." Al frowned. "Alex did say she was on a mission for the Fuhrer as a sort of pre-test for the state alchemist tests, but Tucker mentioned seeing her in his house and Alex signaled us to act like we didn't know anything. That was suspicious."

"Yeah, and there's no such thing as a pre-test, now that I think about it." I frowned, too. "I didn't have one. I'm pretty sure Mustang didn't have one." I sighed. "We can ask Alex about it later, I suppose."

What was going on here?

**Alex POV**

I came to in a dark place. There were hisses and growls, snarls and whimpers, and the sound of chalk scraping against the floor. I was in a dimly lit basement- Tucker's basement, I presumed. The plan was for me to make him have an accident, but it looks like my hunting for nightmare closure got me into a spot of trouble.

A shadow moved toward me, then stopped. A light came on. Tucker was kneeling in front of the wolf, a slightly crazy (but sad) smile on his face. My eyes widened in comprehension as the dream came back to me full force.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Alex, but I have no choice." He moved his hands slowly towards the ground and activated the circle. I screamed.

**Edward POV**

"Hello?" Al and I walked through Tucker's strangely silent house. "Anybody home?"

We pushed open door after door, even Nina's door, but no one was there. Finally we pushed open one door and Tucker was there, kneeling on the floor next to something curled up in the shadows of the room.

"Ah, Edward, Alphonse, take a look! My newest creation!" He stepped aside. The curled up chimera was draped in a blanket, so I lifted the corner to take a closed look. A slightly elongated face with a bit of red fuzz stared up at me with...terror?

"Uwah, so cool!" Al exclaimed delightedly, not realizing what I was realizing. "Can it talk?"

"Why don't you say hello? This is Edward and Alphonse Elric." Tucker smiled gently.

"Ed...ward?" The chimera choked out in a feminine voice. "Al...phon...se?"

I noticed that the chimera not only spoke, but it looked human, at least facial wise. I wasn't going to lift the blanket any more to find out. The face was elongated, but human, with a bit of fuzz. The ears were animal, and a tail flicked out from under the coat.

"Tucker, when did you make your first chimera?" I asked, feeling sick.

"Two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave you?"

"Two years ago."

"One more question." I paused, rage building in me. The bedroom had been empty- "Where are Nina and Alexander?"

Tucker was about to answer when Kestrel burst in.

"Sorry I'm late, Alex, I got lost. Did the accident hap- What on earth?!" She stared at all of us.

"Kestrel, why are you here?" Al asked, and Tucker gasped.

"You can see her, too?!" Tucker's eyes were wide.

"Wait-" My mind raced. Kestrel said "Sorry, Alex". Which means that Alex should be here. Alex has premonitions, so maybe they came up with a plan to save Alexander and Nina? Who's the chimera, then?

Red fuzz.

Alex came to visit the wolf. The wolf was red.

"Alex?" I stared down into her face. Kestrel gasped from behind me. Alex winked as a weak smirk crossed her face.

"I have...splitting...headache..." She gasped for breath. "S'okay, I won't...give up tha...that easily...not...yet." She tried to struggle to her feet. Kestrel dashed over, shoved me away, and stood in front of Alex so we wouldn't see anything. I handed her my coat and Alex put it on. She wrapped the blanket around her waist like a skirt and held my coat so it was closed.

"Take her out of here." Kestrel murmured. I nodded. Al, who seemed horrified, still, picked up Alex.

Al carried her out, and out of sight. Kestrel was stiff, and shaking, and dashed at Tucker. She clawed- Wait, WHAT? I stared wide-eyed as inch-long claws dig into his arm and face. I dashed forward, and grabbed her arms, pulling her away from the terrified man. "Kestrel, go check on Alex. She probably needs you right now," I said. She paused, relaxed, nodded, and ran out of the room.

I looked at Tucker, sitting there against the wall, bruised and bloody. I shook in anger and transmuted the floor so that it pulled one of his hands and both of his feet underground. I ran out of the room, that damn room, to the others.

**Alex POV**

I felt Al pick me up, and my headache didn't get any better. Was it trying to rip itself into thirds? I breathed deeply, and mentally poked around for any problems. A slight muzzle, legs are most likely able to bend back and forth, my senses are even more heightened, and I probably weigh a bit more. Having tiger and wolf in you does that to ya. I relaxed, and tried to fall alsleep.

I smelled Mustang approaching and I slipped out of Al's grip. He stumbled a bit, but after I put a finger to my mouth, and pointed to the direction of Mustang, I hid. "Alphonse, what are you doing here? Kestrel Anderson called me to tell me something was wrong. Mind explaining?" He asked. He had his hands by his side, and Al stumbled for words. Before he could say anything, though, a hand grabbed my ear and dragged me out of the shadows.

"Kes, dammit, warn me when you're going to do that!" I bonged her on top of the head, and she giggled a bit.

**Mustang POV**

To say I was shocked was an understatement. Anderson dragged a... thing out by it's ear, and it barked out some words I couldn't catch. Anderson giggled, but stopped when the thing grabbed it's head. It looked at me with pain-filled emerald green eyes. "Alex, you ok?"

Wait... Alex? I took a step back, realizing what happened. I guess Havoc wasn't kidding when he said Consilium had a soft spot for wolves. Including what Anderson had said, Tucker must've mixed Consilium with that wolf. Consilium looked down, eyes bright with pain, and Fullmetal came out of the house. His gaze hardened when he saw me, but he ignored me mostly and looked to the girls with worried eyes.

"T-Told you... I wo-ouldn't... give up that... easily. Not yet," Consilium said loud enough for us all to hear. Tears dripped from her eyes, and she grabbed her head again. Anderson gasped as Consilium fell unconscious. Anderson helped Alphonse pick her up, and Fullmetal, though he'll probably never admit it, shed a few tears in front of us.

"Come on, Fullmetal. She'll be fine," I said, trying to comfort him. Anderson shook her head, and broke down crying. I don't do well with crying teens.

"D-don't worry, A-Alex. I won't give up easily either. It's over when we say it's over," She said, standing up. Tears still ran down her face as she went after her friend, and I followed, leaving Fullmetal to his thoughts. I frowned a little less as he sped over to the hospital car before it took off.

* * *

**Dreamer372: Oh my god! I'm so sorry, but we had to! *Bursts out crying in a heap on the floor***

**BlueRoseRabbit: *sits down next to Dreamer372 and pats her on the head, making 'sssshhh' noises, and saying its all going to be fine* Anyway, we'll see you next time.**


	6. Let The Battle BEGIN!

**Dreamer372: I hope this is a better chappie! *Throws hands into air, out of the stright jacket***

**BlueRoseRabbit: Sorry if I get some of the medical stuff wrong. I did my best. And I can't believe I made Kestrel's last name "Anderson", of all things. Sorry, Sherlock. Bleck.**

* * *

**Ed Pov**

When we arrived at the hospital the next morning, we found Alex stretching, obviously just have woken up. She smiled, though she looked a bit scary because of her 'muzzle'.

"Hi, guys!" She grinned wildly before pausing and staring out the window with a blank expression. She then turned back to us. "GIRAFFES ARE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! HIDE THE KIDS! EAT THE CAKE!" She proceeded to burst out laughing.

"Does this happen often?" I asked Kestrel with an 'are you kidding me' look.

She deadpanned, "You have no idea. I'm thinking it's just the meds, but..." Seeing her exasperated expression, I turned back to Alex, to see her standing up, Al helping her a bit. She had wide eyes, looking at her legs. They were bent backward, but she popped them back.

"COOL!" She yelled. Kes facepalmed. Alex noticed and calmed down, then walked up to Kes. "Kes, I'm sorry. I didn't remember the dream really well, so I didn't prevent it from happening. I'm ok, don't look at me like that, I've just got a headache. Want to go see Colonel Dumbass soon? About the test?" She hugged Kes (who had nodded), then Al (who was right behind her), then me. I blushed, and I heard Al smother a laugh. I blushed even harder and Al couldn't hold it any longer; he laughed. Alex's ears twitched and she released me, and then she crept to the area next to the door. Colonel Bastard walked in with Hughes and Hawkeye, and Alex jumped out screaming, "BOO!" Hawkeye got her gun out, Mustang had almost snapped his fingers, and Hughes pulled out his...knives...

Alex grinned, still a bit scary, and laughed. "You guys got no humor, do you?" Mustang facepalmed. Kestrel was pale as milk, her eyes locked on Mustang's gloved hand. He noticed and took off the glove, which made her relax. A little. I gave Mustang an appreciative nod.

Mustang then turned to Kes. "Miss Anderson, Miss Consilium, we would have you answer a few questions."

Not a request. A command.

**Alex POV**

"We may not be able to answer some of those questions," I warned, giving Kestrel (who had given me a look) a thumbs up. She nodded, relieved.

"And why is that?" Mustang asked warily.

"Someone will be...displeased." Kestrel interjected before I could say something about Truth.

"Who?" Mustang's curiosity was skyrocketing. I shook my head. Kestrel was silent. Mustang's hands slipped into his pockets reflexively, and I pushed Kestrel behind me, my dog-lips curling up into a snarl, just daring him to put those gloves on. Hawkeye shook her head at Mustang, who finally realized that he was threatening teenagers with a flaming death and pulled his hands out of his pockets.

I had an idea suddenly. "Lets make a deal, Sparky. When my test comes we'll have an alchemical sparring match. You beat me, I answer as many of your questions as I can. I beat you, you drop the whole thing and don't ask again. Deal?" I held out a hand for him to shake. Mustang paused, as if considering his options, and then he shook my hand. It was official.

"Good luck, Colonel, you'll need it." Kestrel chuckled weakly, still calming down from the threat of fire earlier. She hadn't quite gotten over her terror of the gloves, it seemed.

"Oh, and before I forget, can I get a mask to hide the dog-face? I- I don't want anyone's pity, okay?" I paused. "I don't need pity. There's enough in the world as it is."

"Actually, Alex," Kestrel interjected, "the dog face may no longer be a problem."

**Kestrel POV**

Everyone turned to me immediately. I flinched at all the attention, but I decided to be brave.

"I might be able to make your face look more human. At least, the cranium can be human-like again. I would just be reshaping it. I would use the extra material to reinforce the skull, because obviously your dog-face is longer and contains more marrow and calcium than a normal human skull would, so your face would be much harder to break, and your brain would be so much more protected. There's just the problem of getting it to normal size. The skull could be more compact, of course, but then I'd have to reinforce your neck, too, so it wouldn't snap from holding that much weight..." I paused in my scientific rambling long enough to notice everyone's vacant and/or shocked expressions. Most of them clearly did not understand what I was getting at. Only Edward was nodding along, his mind racing. I blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, I think I got a little carried away."

"Naw, that was brilliant, Kes!" Alex beamed at me. I grinned hesitantly back.

"And as for the fur, we can just turn that into head hair, you know?" Edward said to me thoughtfully. I nodded.

"You don't mind having a bit longer hair, do you, wolf-tiger?" I grinned at Alex, who pretended to pout.

"I guess it wouldn't kill me." She allowed, pulling her already waist length hair into a pony tail using a hair tie Edward transmuted for her.

Mustang cleared his throat. "Alright, then, Miss Anderson will transmute Alex back into a more human-like appearance. I will speak with the Fuhrer about making an appointment for Miss Consilium to test for the title of state alchemist. Also, I received a call this morning from a hotel about a child named Nina-"

"Shit!" I exclaimed. Everyone stared at me again. "I forgot to go back and see Nina. She's probably worried sick. You've got her father in custody, right?" I looked at Mustang. He nodded. "Alright, good, please find her somewhere safe, preferably away from here, because she'll need time to get over her father and Scar is still in the city- Oh, fuck, the Elrics haven't met Scar! Alex, what do I do?! I screwed it up! I screwed it all up because of my stupid desire to save a little girl, and now the whole thing has been ruined!" I wrung my hands, tears threatening to overflow. Most of the other people in the room looked baffled, but Alex seemed to have gone pale (I mean, she had fur, I wasn't completely sure).

"Hey, it's okay, Kes, it's not that bad, calm down, it'll be okay-"

"But what if it won't be? What if it's not okay? What if there's a ripple effect and everybody dies?!" I really started crying then.

What have I done?

**Alex POV**

I frowned and poked Kes on the forehead. "Kestrel Clarisse Anderson. Calm down. If there was that much of a ripple effect, everyone would be dead already, right?"

"Not necessarily-"

"They would." I nodded to myself, not allowing her to interrupt more. "Remember, Pops always said, 'If you don't look positively at life-"

"-then you're not looking at life at all." Kestrel finished for me. "I know. It sure helped us a lot when we got lost in the forest that one time, didn't it? Which was your fault, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved a hand dismissively, but I was grinning. Kes was looking much saner already. I looked around and sweatdropped. Ed and Sparky were having a screaming match about something or another, and Al was trying to stop Ed from killing the upset Colonel.

"WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP FOR THREE MINUTES?!" Kestrel and I yelled suddenly. We turned and grinned at each other after hearing our perfectly synced scolding. Everyone stopped and looked at us again.

"What the hell are you two screaming about?!" I spun on Sparky and Ed, who looked notably dismayed about angering the Magnificent Alex Consilium of Supreme Amazingness. Neither of them spoke.

"Colonel Mustang was upset and curious about the fact that you knew about this 'Scar' person and was yelling at Brother for speaking about 'classified information', and Brother was yelling about how he never talked about classified information and why hasn't anyone told him about Scar before." Al stared at the two man-boys menacingly. They flinched, looking apologetic.

"We read it in a newspaper." I lied easily, flashing a dazzling smile that Ed bought and Mustang looked very suspicious of. "When can we spar, Sparky? I'm impatient."

Mustang sighed, but he looked relieved that I wasn't angry anymore. "I'll contact the Fuhrer immediately and tell him that the test he offered you before would like to be taken. Miss Anderson, fix Miss Consilium's face while I'm gone. Fullmetal, you and your brother can do whatever you want. I don't care. Just don't die within my jurisdiction, I hate the paperwork I'll have to fill out."

"I won't die before you will, Colonel Shit." Edward looked pissed, but then he smirked and saluted Mustang. Mustang saluted back and he left the room, Hawkeye and Hughes trailing behind him.

Kestrel blinked. "That sounded all too familiar, wouldn't you say?"

"Mm." I gave a noncommittal grunt. "So, about my face..."

"Oh, right." Kes picked up a rather large book that was in a stack that the nurses had left so we wouldn't get bored. "Forgive me, alright?"

Then the book collided with my head and the world went dark.

**Edward POV**

"What the hell-?!" I gasped and rushed to catch Alex as she crumpled to the ground. Kes looked remorseful.

"It would hurt more if she was awake. Can you go get me some ketamine? Better yet, let me do it, I don't want you grabbing the wrong thing by mistake. It'll be fine, just gotta give her the right dosage, they use this stuff in surgeries..." Kestrel was muttering to herself as she slipped out the door. Al and I stared after her.

"Should we trust her with this?" Al asked me, sounding nervous.

"Who else can we trust?" I shook my head helplessly. "C'mon, Al, lets go for a walk. The rain'll clear our heads."

**Mustang POV**

"You asked to see me, Colonel Mustang?" The Fuhrer eyed me over his desk as I saluted. He waved his hand nonchalantly, as if to say "at ease." I relaxed slightly and clasped my hands behind my back.

"I would like to request a testing for two young women for the title of state alchemist." I said calmly.

"Oh?"

"Miss Alex Consilium was one you saw in combat briefly, I believe." I suggested helpfully.

"Ah, yes, I remember now. I offered to have her tested right away, but you brought me the message that she'd like to put it off. She's prepared now, then?" The Fuhrer raised an eyebrow. I nodded stiffly.

"Her companion, Kestrel Anderson, would also like to test, if you don't mind, sir." I said, my mouth dry.

"I see. Hmm." He paused. "Very well. Consilium will do a duel for her testing. Anderson- What is Anderson's specialty?"

"Medicine and healing, I think, sir." I was guessing, but it was a good guess. She has been rambling about medical stuff to fix Consilium's dog-like face earlier.

"Then Anderson will have to fix Joss." The Fuhrer said firmly.

"Joss? But-"

"The testing will take place tomorrow. That will be all, Colonel." The Fuhrer looked at his paperwork. I got the message and saluted, then left.

I wasn't sure how Consilium would take the news that she'd have to fight me right away.

And Anderson would have a task ahead of her, indeed...

**Edward POV**

"Help! Oh, somebody, please, help, stop that man!" A woman's yell startled Al and I out of our thoughts. I saw a scrawny man dash around the corner with a purse clutched under his arm. He was heading straight for us. I smiled lazily and knelt down.

"Out of the way, kid!" The man got closer. Just a few more hurried steps, and-

Clap!

I slammed my hands into the ground and a cage formed around the man. I stood up and stretched. I could practically sense Al rolling his eyes at me.

A few officers were there moments later. I opened up the cage so they could arrest the thief. The woman heaped praise on me.

"What's your name, young man?" She asked at one point. I stood straight.

"Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist, at your service." I shot her a grin. She smiled back happily and praised me some more.

Al eventually cut in. "You're very welcome, ma'am. But I'm afraid that if you praise him any more, he'll get an even more swelled head."

"I do not have a swelled head!" I protested, but I allowed Al to lead me away. We walked around a corner and I bumped right into a tall, tan man with a yellowish coat and sunglasses. He had an X shaped scar on his forehead. I fell down on the ground. My pocketwatch skittered across the pavement as it flew out of my pocket, not getting lost forever only because of the chain I'd clipped to my belt.

"Sorry, sir!" Al apologized for me quickly as I grabbed the watch and put it back in my pocket.

"Is that a state alchemists watch?" The man asked. I grinned.

"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." I proclaimed. In hindsight, that probably wasn't a great idea.

Especially since there was a murderer called Scar on the loose.

Who had a big X shaped scar on his forehead.

The man tried to grab my face, but I dodged. "Run, Al!" I yelled. We bolted, almost slipping in the puddles on the pavement.

**Kestrel POV**

I worked slowly, concentrating as much as I could on the anatomy of Alex. I was focusing on fixing her skull, and had forgotten that there'd be problems like eye size and leftover skin. I paused in my skull transmutation and tried fixing the eye. I was walking the fine line of human transmutation, and I knew it. Thank goodness Truth is okay with using alchemy to fix people and only hates attempts at resurrection.

I slowly took the excess skin and muscles and formed a small-ish growth-wad thing on Alex's forehead that I'd have to surgically remove later. This was annoyingly complicated.

I went back to fixing her skull, and time passed. I knew not how much. I remember that by the time I had transmuted the fur into head hair the sun was going down. Alex's hair was now all auburn and curly except for the roots, which were straight and a deep red.

I removed the weird remainder lump from her forehead and slumped in my seat. Alchemy itself does not make you tired, but concentrating for so long is exhausting. I was about to start napping when I heard a rap of knuckles on the door and Alex sat straight up in bed.

"Who's there?!" She cried out, looking frightened. I called out, "Come in," and spoke to Alex soothingly, telling her it was alright and allowing her to touch her face to make sure it was all there.

"You're a miracle worker, Kes," she breathed happily as someone entered the room. I didn't bother to turn around.

"I don't believe in miracles, Alex," I said, smiling wearily.

"I do, now that I've seen Miss Consilium's recovery." Mustang walked closer to the bed and pulled up a chair. "You look considerably more human. Decided to keep the tiger ears, then?"

"Oh, I forgot about those." I murmured nervously, glancing at the ears (that looked like a cross between wolf and tiger) that poked out of Alex's hair. I edged my chair away from Mustang slightly.

"I like 'em." Alex grinned and her ears twitched accordingly.

"Well, better find some hats that you like, because you'll fight me tomorrow." Mustang smirked. Alex looked surprised.

"What?! What about the written test?! The interview?! What's going on, Mustang?!" Alex had gotten out of bed and started pacing around. Mustang lost his smirk and looked solemn.

"The Fuhrer was...Well, he's made up his mind and he's not changing it. And Anderson, your challenge will be a bit different. I'll fill you in on the details after we go check on the Elrics." Mustang stood.

"Where are they, anyway?" Alex asked, ceasing her restless pacing.

"They were attacked by Scar earlier. Fullmetal is resting in another wing of the hospital. Alphonse is sitting in a box." Mustang did not look happy. I blanched, but Alex looked pleased.

"See, Kes? They met Scar and lived. Everything is fine. We'll test tomorrow, then go see Winry and get Ed's arm fixed, and then everything will work itself out!" Alex grinned, and I couldn't help feeling hopeful.

"I never said that Fullmetal's arm was broken." Mustang frowned.

"Well, you said Al was sitting in a box, right?" I said quickly, trying to cover Alex's slip up. "He must be damaged, and if Ed could transmute, he'd fix Al right away."

"Lets go see them." Alex blurted. I looked over at her.

"Alright, but as soon as we're done you're going to rest up for tomorrow!" I dictated. Alex nodded. I turned to Mustang. "You will need to rest up, too."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Alex and I followed him out of the room and through building until we got to Ed's room.

"Bo~ys, we're ba~ck!" Alex proclaimed happily as she burst through the door. I face palmed (she's always had _such_ a flare for dramatics) and Mustang merely shook his head.

"How are you guys?" I asked, and Al said they were fine, while Ed gaped at Alex.

"Your face is back to normal!" He exclaimed.

"Thanks for mentioning it, Captain Obvious." Alex grinned. Mustang informed the boys about Alex's duel, and then he turned to me.

"May I have a word?" He gestured to the door. I nodded and he led me into the hallway, shutting the door behind me.

"Since you're from another universe, I suppose you've never heard of Samuel Joss."

-line break-

**Edward POV**

The next day, we were all seated in the seats surrounding the area where Alex and Mustang would duel. A muscled man named Major Armstrong (another Alex, funnily enough) carried Al in his box, and Kestrel was at my side to hide the fact that I was still missing an arm. She looked nervous.

Hughes walked into the middle of the clearing and started bragging about his daughter to the crowd, who threw trash at him until he introduced the contestants.

"In the Blue Corner we have the Hero of Ishval, ROY MUSTANG!" He gestured to the colonel, who stared into empty space.

"BOO!"

"GIVE ME BACK MY GIRLFRIEND!"

More angry shouts sounded all around. Mustang did not react. Hughes moved on to Alex, who was counting something in her hand.

"And in the red corner we have the challenger, ALEXANDER CONSILIUM!"

"WHAT IS A GIRL DOING HERE?!"

"GO BACK HOME TO YOUR CHORES!"

Kestrel yelled obscenities in the directions the sexist comments came from. I raised an eyebrow and she quieted, cheeks red with embarrassment.

"START!" Yelled Hughes. I glanced at Kes, who was now looking pale with worry.

"She'll be fine." I muttered.

"Mm. I'm a little worried about Mustang, too, though. She better remember that she's not allowed to kill him. That would be disastrous." Kestrel wrung her hands. Noticing my confused and skeptical look, she explained.

"Alex's dad was a little paranoid about perverts, murderers, kidnappers, military invasions, and the like, so he taught us a lot about fighting. Alex was much better at it then I was. They went camping together sometimes and she did gymnastics in the trees. Watch." Kes gestured to the arena, where the fight had begun.

Alex threw the things in her hand out onto the ground of the arena and clapped, then pressed her palms to the ground, a crouching movement which spared her hair from being torched by Mustang when he snapped his fingers. Trees shot up out of the ground, leafless things with strange bark. Mustang snapped his fingers again, but Alex had already moved among the trees.

Oddly enough, none of the trees caught fire, and the fire burned itself out.

A red blur dashed out of the forest and zig-zagged around Mustang, tagging him there or hitting him here or just brushing up against him right there and then back into the forest she went, quick as a flash. Mustang had been snapping at the figure the whole time, but Alex (it must have been her) dodged the flames.

Everyone (except for Kes) was in shock, and they were all on the edge of their seats so to speak, watching very closely. It was all so exciting.

Mustang snapped once more, but there was no fire. He stared down at his glove before fishing in his pockets for a new one.

He came out empty handed.

**Mustang POV**

So the little brat has the to slash a pair of my gloves, run off with my other pairs, and taunt me? Well, at least one of my gloves had gotten caught on a branch over there...

I headed off into the forest, despite knowing that it was a trap. A leafless vine wrapped around one of my ankles, but I ignored it. It was rather loose anyway, so it didn't inhibit me much. I snatched the remarkably unscathed glove off the tree branch and continued through the forest.

A red haired figure darted towards me again and I snapped, hoping to singe that blasted hair. Consilium dodged, then started swinging on the branches of the trees like a monkey.

"Kes and I were the only kids in our town trained to evade invaders, like the military. Good luck getting me." She taunted from behind.

I spun around to find two long, thick needles pointed at my neck, and Consilium grinning like a madman.

"Gotcha." She proclaimed proudly. My eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Since you've 'got me', mind getting rid of the trees?" I asked. She just needed to drop the needles so she could clap, and I'd-

"Nice try." She pulled out a third needle from god-knows-where and pinned me to a tree by my jacket, then used the remaining two to pin more parts of my jacket. Then she took my glove. Damn her.

Consilium clapped and slammed her palms to the ground, causing the trees to decompose into piles of fine particles. The audience roared with cheering and applause.

"Well done, both of you! Good job! Miss Consilium, if you would allow Mustang to move...?" The Fuhrer approached us with a pleasant smile on his face. Consilium yanked the needles out of my jacket and I promptly saluted the Fuhrer. Consilium copied my movements.

"Thank you, sir!" She said, going back to her happy, bubbly self, much different from the feral attitude I'd seen earlier. Bipolar? Better ask Anderson.

"I will see you both, along with the Anderson girl, in my office in a half hour. Dismissed." And then the Fuhrer was gone. Consilium dashed off to the Elrics and Anderson, all of whom had rushed forward to congratulate her.

Consilium hugged Alphonse first (she picked his helmet up out of the box and hugged it), then Fullmetal, and finally Anderson. Fullmetal was blushing by the time she had let go of him, and I smirked. Perfect blackmail. Consilium turned back and nodded to me, acknowledging the meeting we'd have with the Fuhrer in a half hour. I looked at the two girls once more before leaving, knowing that Armstrong would make sure that they got home.

**Kestrel POV**

"Great job! I'm so proud of you, you wonderful-!" I enveloped Alex in another hug. I felt her grin into my shoulder.

"You'll be excellent on your test, too," she insisted, drawing back from me and patting my head. I shoved her arm away, telling her to "please quit doing that before I slap you".

"I AM MOST PLEASED AT YOUR DEVELOPMENT, MISS ALEXANDER CONSILIUM! I AM ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG, THE STRONG ARM ALCHEMIST!" The Major enveloped Armstrong in a bone crushing hug.

"Yup, I got that. Nice to meetcha." Alex wheezed. Major Armstrong put her down after a moment more.

"Ha, Colonel Bastard lost! To someone who wasn't even a state alchemist yet! Never gonna let that one go!" Edward grinned, laughing and being an all around obnoxious five year old. Alex bristled at the implication that they were supposedly better than her because they were state alchemists and she wasn't (which makes sense).

"Well, she's certainly going to be a state alchemist now. I wonder what her title will be?" I put a hand on her shoulder and started steering her away from the arena. She and the boys started discussing names.

"I think the Red Alchemist would be nice, because of her red hair," said Alphonse. Edward thought that the "Annoying Alchemist" would fit better, which earned him a slap.

"The Needle Alchemist?" Alphonse suggested. Edward grinned.

"Yeah, you did stab Truth with a needle, after all. Needles are sort of your thing," he proclaimed proudly, probably mentally flashback-ing to the time when Alex showed him the needle with a bit of Truth's essence stuck on it. I smiled. Alex had outdone herself on that one.

My test would probably happen after our meeting with the Fuhrer in a half hour. Lovely.

I was being sarcastic with the lovely part.

This was going to suck.

**Alex POV**

"Don't worry, Kes, you'll do fine!" I cheered, pumping my hand into the air. The corners of Kestrel's lips twitched up in a weak, unsure smile, so I gave her an evil eye. I failed at it, of course, but I didn't fail at making Kes laugh.

"Okay, okay, I can do it, just stop with the look! Please," she said, still laughing. Ed and Al had gone back to the hospital with the excuse that they were going to wait for Kes to finish her test, but I think Ed's injuries were bothering him a bit and he didn't want to admit it. I'm not completely sure...

Anyway, Kes was stationed to take her test in an hour. The meeting with the Fuhrer had gone over alright, he was going to give me my state alchemist title and watch, but I asked him to wait until Kes was done with her test so we could receive our things together. The Fuhrer had reluctantly agreed (gee this guy put up a convincing "I'm not evil" act). Kes was to be operating on an Ishvalan war veteran. He had suffered a spinal injury and had some burns that had gotten infected. I could tell she was running through the treatments and possibilities and procedures through her head. And reading up on procedures. And operating on an uncooked chicken. Don't ask, the cooks looked at me funny when I asked them for one.

"Don't worry about it. Remember that time when I got the compound fracture? You did alright then, didn't you?" I was aiming for reassurance, but we both shuddered. There was blood going down my arm like there was no tomorrow... Never mind, but thank god Kes was there.

"Yeah, and I still have to thank your dad for teaching me first aid. You'd be lost without me now." She elbowed me, grinning like the devil. I suddenly had a very disturbing feeling. Dad taught her first aid, so what did Mom teach her? Not matchmaking, I hope, Jesus...

"Hello, Earth to Alex, come in, Alex!" Kestrel waved a hand in front of my face and I blinked. Right. Got to stop worrying about things.

"Right. Well, I'd leave you to it, but I don't trust the military, so I'll hang out in the air vents. Good luck," I said, and then I climbed a book shelf, pushed open a vent, crawled into the roomy area, turned around, and waved at Kes. Kes waved back and went back to reading.

I waited in there for a while, and eventually a man came into the room to tell Kes that there were five minutes until the operation. A doctor came in and introduced himself as Doctor Medico. I noticed that Kestrel barely contained a laugh ("Medico" is Italian for "doctor", so his name is "Doctor Doctor"). He led her out and she closed the door behind her. I followed them as best I could through the air vents using Kestrel's birdy and pepperminty(new deodorant?) scent as my guide. I peered into the room and gagged.

The man that lay on the table was covered in burns and had an awkwardly bent back. He probably looked nervous, but I couldn't tell because he was laying with his back up so that Kes could operate on it. Kes had, at some point, changed into scrubs, and was poking at his back to find out what was wrong. He groaned, and she frowned. Kestrel clapped her hands and pressed them gently onto his back, and a spectacular light show enveloped the room from her alchemy. The doctors were gaping like fish as the burns healed and his back started straightening a little. Not by much, the rest of his bones had to shift a little more, but it was still an improvement. Joss sat up and was soon being assisted into standing. He beamed at Kes, who smiled back. Kestrel exited the room and the doctors started walking Joss out. I had seen enough, so I followed Kestrel's scent again and ended up in a waiting room sort of area. Probably a lobby.

I kicked the vent out and hopped down to the floor. Kestrel looked up with a bland expression on her face and spoke in monotone.

"You never can make a normal entrance, can you?" She asked.

"Nope," I replied, popping the 'p'. We made our way to HQ, chatting and laughing, but it all stopped once we reached Colonel Dumbass's door. "Ready?" I asked, swallowing nervously.

Kestrel took a deep breath. "As I'll ever be," she responded, and we knocked on the door.

* * *

**Dreamer372: Hey! I haven't been on recently cuz I was at camp, but now I'm here! You all know the drill, Read, review, and relax!**

**Oh! and before I forget, Rabbit said she's gonna be out a bit on the second week in July. See ya!**


	7. Forgiveness

**Dreamer372: HEY! I'm back! **

**BlueRoseRabbit: Sorry for the wait. That was mostly my fault. Also, anyone else having mixed feelings on Twelfth Doctor?**

* * *

**Mustang POV:**

"Come in," I called, placing the pen down. Damn paperwork.

The two girls walked in, both looking a little nervous, but for Anderson that was normal. I smirked smugly, and Consilium glared. I laughed. "Why would two little girls look so nervous?"

Consilium's reaction to being called a "little girl" was immediate. "Shut the hell up. I'll beat you into next week!" She yelled. She then huffed and crossed her arms.

Anderson spoke up, probably trying to avoid a fight. "Let's just get this over with." The red head next to her nodded. I sighed.

"Alright, ladies, here are your letters," I said, smiling, as I held out the letters. Consilium grabbed them, and handed Anderson hers. They skimmed over them, Anderson's eyes sweeping across the page faster's than Consilium. She probably reads more often.

"The Miracle Alchemist?" Anderson said, looking up at Consilium.

"The Wild Alchemist?" Consilium looked up, meeting her gaze. "AWESOME!" She exclaimed happily.

Anderson bit her lip. "I don't understand. Why, of all things, do you have to pick something I don't believe in? I mean, really- miracles?!"

"Aw, chin up, Kes, inagine what good rep. you'll get. It sounds great." Consilium said to her friend. Suddenly, her ears twitched and she sniffed the air slightly, and then she gave me an evil grin. What the hell was she going to do now? She snuck next to the door before yanking open.

A blonde midget fell l to the ground, startled. Fullmetal (that's who it was) looked at her, shouting "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO LISTEN IN ON CONVERSATIONS!" She shouted back. Had this happened before? Never mind...

"Alex, you've done that before, too, so hush!" Anderson scolded, standing up, hands on her hips.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" I shouted, having enough of all this crap. After summoning Havoc to escort Fullmetal away to his room (he would surely protest the assignment I was about to give), I gave them their first assignment. They were to start next week, since they requested time to break the news of Shou Tucker's inabilities to care for his offspring to Nina and get her into a home that would love her.

I sent them away absentmindedly after that. I had to start on some paperwork. Anderson gently reminded me that they needed their watches, which I quickly tossed to them with embarrassment. _Then_ they were finally gone.

**Edward POV**

The week after Alex and Kestrel got their state alchemist watches, we rarely saw them. Al and I called Winry up so she could fix my automail so I could fix Al up from our run-in with Scar, and Kestrel and Anderson took Nina out into the countryside to an adoption agency. Winry didn't meet the two females, sadly. They would've been good friends, I'm sure. Winry headed back to Resembool after fixing me (and hitting me repeatedly with a wrench for ruining her precious automail) and Kestrel and Anderson returned after Nina was adopted. I went to bed the night of their return feeling kind of off.

_The nightmare started like it usually did. I would run up to Mom in the field and show her the toy I made with alchemy. "Mom! Mom! Lookie!" I'd yell, and she'd smile and ruffle my hair._

_"Nice job, my little man. You really are his son." But the scenery would grow darker until th-that THING was staring at me, dripping and terrible, saying, "you can fix your toys, but you couldn't fix me, could you?"_

_This was where the dream differed this time; I turned away in horror, only to see Alex standing next to that wolf. My eyes widened as the two merged together. "Yeah, Ed, why couldn't you fix us? Why?"_

I bolted upright in bed, gasping for air and covered in cold sweat. I pondered the nightmare as I calmed down. Does Alex blame me for not getting there in time to stop it from happening? Is she hiding the blame from me?

I got out of bed and got dressed, trying to shake the thoughts from my mind. They lingered nonetheless.

"Good morning, Brother!" Al said cheerily from where he was sitting and reading.

I yawned. "Mornin', Al. What's the plan for today?"

"We got a call from Colonel Mustang while you were sleeping. He wants us to come in because we have an assignment." Alphonse told me as he stood up.

We hurried to HQ, stopping only once at a cafe so I could grab some breakfast. We were met by Havoc. He had a folder in his hands and was smoking.

"Hey, fellas," he said as we approached, "good to see you all fixed up and walking around again."

"Good to be walking." Al replied happily.

"What's the job?" I asked impatiently.

"Follow me." He started leading us down some corridors. I heard animal screeching from a door we seemed to be headed to. "We need you two to go through Tucker's research, and catalog it, organize it, and memorize it. Don't give me that look, Fullmetal, what he did to Alex Consilium was bad, yes, but some of this could be used for good in the future." Havoc said as we entered the room aforementioned.

"Why can't Tucker just do it, then, if this is so important? He knows it best." I muttered angrily.

"A serial killer got to him first. Kestrel Anderson's idea of sending Nina away might have just saved the girl's life. And Tucker might've just been executed without trial even if he had lived, since his guilt was so apparent." Havoc explained.

"I won't do it. I won't go through that bastard's research." I said stubbornly.

"You pledged your loyalty to the military, Fullmetal. Remember that." Havoc handed me the folder and walked away.

I ended up feeding an animal chimera while Al filed some books. We sat in silence for a while. I wondered what Kes and Alex were up to. Speaking of which, they were chimeras, why couldn't _they_ do this instead of me and Al?! Kes is a bird chimera and Alex is a tiger and wolf chimera, so this is right up their alley!

"Brother, I found some of Tucker's research on the Philosopher's Stone!" Al cried out suddenly.

"Forget it, Al, I refuse to use anything that bastard has touched." I muttered.

"But this could get our body's back-"

I cut him off by throwing a sack of feed at his face (helmet). "Don't you remember what he did to Alex?! I wouldn't trust anything that guy has researched! It's probably just a fairy tale, anyway! It's not real!" I yelled. I strode from the room angrily, feeling a smudge of guilt for taking my frustrations out on Al.

I went to Mustang's office and demanded an assignment change. I was denied. I raged, telling him that I would have nothing to do with a military that used monster's information.

"I guess you should leave that here, then." Mustang said, gesturing to my watch. In the heat of the moment I made a split second decision to fling the watch on the table, surprising us both into silence for a brief length of time.

Eventually I huffed and stormed out, intending to find Alex to keep me company. I had forgotten that they were on their first assignment from Mustang starting today. Well, shit.

**Alex POV**

Well, shit. Our first assignment was the murderer, the person who chopped up people, and my memory was failing me. Kestrel had not watched the first series, so she didn't know anything about the plot of this bit, but I had practically memorized both series of Fullmetal Alchemist. I only vaguely remembered this episode, though, and could only recall that he was a butcher with a truck that said "Barry's" on it.

Well, we were at HQ, so maybe we could help out somewhere while I tried to recall information.

Ah! Wait, I've got it!

"Got what?" Kestrel asked. I realized I'd said the last bit out loud.

"I've got a good idea, a really good idea!" I shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders.

Kes took on a wary expression. My last good idea had involved sugar and had gotten us riddled with bullets. "What is it?"

"The KITCHENS, Kes! We have to help out in the kitchens!" I proclaimed eagerly.

"O-kay," she said, "but no sugar for you."

I grabbed her hand excitedly and she asked a nearby soldier for directions. We hurried to the kitchens (I was practically dragging her) and I rushed up to the head cook.

Before I could say anything, Kestrel grabbed me and pushed me behind her. "Hi, can we help out here a bit? Alex here knows how to bake bread, and we've been bored and wanted to support our troops." She asked politely, smiling at the large man prettily.

He stuttered a moment. "S-sure. Go ahead. Bread making right over there." He gestured vaguely in a direction and we went over there.

"Are you a daughter of Aphrodite? You're like a charmspeaker." I asked her in a slightly awed voice. She almost always got what she wanted when she asked for stuff, unlike me. Although, maybe it was because she almost never asked for anything.

"Nope." She grinned at me. "Now hurry up and make bread. Why the hell are we doing this again?"

"Just put on a hair net." I shoved one in her hands and (with some difficulty, curse you frizzy hair!) put on my own.

About five minutes later, a slim butcher woman that I would recognize anywhere walked in. Not-a-she-but-really-a-he glanced over at Kes and me and got this gleam in his eyes, a look I realized was the yearning to kill. I shuddered and turned away. I went back to bread making eagerly. My heart sank a little when the murderer requested help from a few men to bring in a haul of meat.

They all came back moments later with a few sacks full of flesh and started preparing them. The killer took all but one of the sacks and headed back to his van.

I heard the door close, and then footsteps, and then the door opened and then closed again. I paid it no mind.

"Kes, pass me some oven mitts, would you, I think this one is done." I said eventually.

No answer.

I looked up. "Kes?"

She wasn't in the room. I glanced around again, more urgently this time.

"Oh, your friend went to return a sack to our local butcher when she accidentally left it in here. It was awfully nice of her. She hasn't come back, though, I wonder what's taking her so long? The van was just outside-"

Oh, no.

Why couldn't she have just watched the first series?!

Damn it!

**Kestrel POV**

I ran as fast as I could to catch up with the truck as it was driving away. I waved the sack in the air, hoping the woman would see me in the rearview mirrors, and she did.

This turned out to be a bit not good.

"You forgot your bag at the kitchens, miss," I said after she parked the van and got out to see me.

"Ah, thank you, just put it in back. On the hook, please." She opened the back doors of the fan and I leaned in to put the bag on the hook. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach, so I had to climb all the way in to hang the bag on the hook. The last thing I felt was a very painful hard thing clunking against the back of my head.

**Alex POV**

My mind was on a one way street right now: Finding Kes. I ran through the city with anxiety coursing through me- what if I was too late?

When I finally, finally found the building I remembered the murderer using (please please please let him not have driven somewhere new), I kicked down the door with a snarl and looked around for Kes.

She was shackled to a chair in a position so that her hands couldn't come together to use alchemy, and her bird claws had come out- she had been trying to scratch a transmutation circle in the wood, perhaps? She had blood on her face, but she didn't look too hurt. Barry turned when he heard me come in.

"Aw," he pouted, "I didn't get to finish my creation. Oh, well. But now- now I have another slab of meat to chop up! I love to see that red hair even more red. Blood red, yes!" This final exclamation was punctuated with a creepy grin and an ominous knife gesture. He started approaching me, licking his lips.

"Oh, no, that won't do. That won't do at all. But one thing is for sure- your murdering days are over, Barry the Chopper!" I shouted, drawing my knitting needles from my ankle bracelet and unsheathing my claws. He lunged at me with his knife, but I dodged and slashed at his face. We continued to "dance" like that until he slipped up and I ducked under his arm and stabbed the needles into his shoulders. I let go of the needles and left them embedded in his flesh, then swung my leg into his so he fell to the ground. I knelt down beside him and slammed my fist into his temple, rendering him KO.

Kestrel gave a light cheer.

"Hey, Kes. You're looking a little worse for wear." I clapped my hands and pressed them to the chains. They broke and hit the ground with a clatter.

"You think?" She asked wryly, though her voice was shaky. "Was this supposed to happen? I didn't read about this."

"It was in the first anime season, though Winry was kidnapped instead of you, and Ed rescued her." I replied. "Go find a phone. I'll chain the guy up."

Kestrel left while I transmuted the chains extra tightly around him. I yanked my knitting needles out of his shoulders (the sound was disgusting) and cleaned them off on the back of Barry's shirt.

The MPs arrived shortly after that, and Hughes gave Kestrel and me a ride. I nodded off after growing bored of staring out the window.

I woke to Kestrel shaking me awake. "Wazzgoinon? I said blearily.

"We're here to make our report to the Colonel." Kestrel reminded me.

"Right." I yawned and sat up, rubbed my eyes, stretched, and then lazily reclined on the couch (how the hell did I get in here?) and stared at Mustang, who stared back. He looked irritated.

"So, you've saved the city from a serial killer, me from some paperwork, and Anderson from an untimely death." Mustang folded his hands as he spoke. "Better yet, you've made me look good in the progress. You're dismissed now. No napping in my office."

"Speaking of which, how did I get in here, anyway?" I asked.

"Anderson carried you in. It was quite amusing, actually. You were sleeping like a baby." Mustang grinned. I glared, and then brightened as I noticed the vent above his head.

"We'll be going to the library now," Kestrel blurted, noticing the vengeance-gears turning inside my quirky little brain. Mustang blinked in surprise and then nodded, waving us away with a lazy hand. Kes and I walked out the door and greeted Hawkeye, and some other officers whose names were rather unimportant to my present schemes.

"I'm leaving the other way. Meet you at the library?" I asked with a gleam in my eyes. Kestrel sighed.

"Mm. Find someone to get you directions. Window or air ducts?"

"Air ducts. I'm gonna make it rain for a dumbass." I proclaimed with a grin. Kes facepalmed as a few of the officers took their wallets out and started making bets as to whether or not I'd be caught.

"Be careful," was Kes's only warning as I transmuted a newspaper into a paper cup and Falman (one of the officers in the room) left to fill it up with water. I opened the air vent in the room and made sure it was big enough for me to crawl through. Falman returned and I bit the rim of the cup so I could carry it in my mouth as I crawled through the ducts. The officers gave me a quick salute as I began my pranking mission.

I quickly got to the grate above Mustang's head and quietly removed it. I dumped the cup of water in the hole and scuttled backwards as Mustang started to swear.

"What the hell?!" He raged.

I laughed as I made my way to the room I had entered the vent through and dashed for the door, the swearing of Mustang and the boys who lost their bets following me all the way to the exit where Kes was waiting. She giggled as I howled with laughter. I opened the door to stand stock still as I realized I was about two inches away from kissing a little blonde midget. Said midget quickly stumbled backwards in surprise.

"Hey, Ed, wassup?" I asked, trying to hide my blush with nonchalance.

He glanced away. "Nothing," he murmured. I frowned. Why wouldn't he look at me?

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I said nothing!" He turned to run off but I tackled him and pinned him to the ground.

"Liar, liar pants on fire," I accused jokingly, trying to cheer him up, but he merely looked at anywhere that wasn't my face. "Seriously, Eddo, what's the matter? Did..." I licked my lips nervously and felt crestfallen. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No! I thought- IthoughtyoublamedmeforwhathappenedatTucker's." Ed blurted.

I sat back, stunned. That was ridiculous. How could I blame Edward for something that wasn't his fault? I immediately snapped out of it and leaned back down to pin his arms down so he'd stop squirming.

"I don't blame you, Ed. How could I blame you? It wasn't your fault. Don't be stupid." I said with a well-meant glare. He needed to get it into his thick skull that he shouldn't burden himself with guilt. He had enough already with Al and his mother, he didn't need my misfortune added on to it.

Ed looked hopeful. "You don't?"

"No." I made him look into my eyes so he'd know that I was serious. We remained there for a moment in silence, gold eyes meeting hazel.

Kestrel coughed and I almost jumped out of my skin. I had forgotten she was there. "As much as I love seeing you pin a state alchemist to the ground and have an emotional conversation with aforementioned alchemist, Alex, you're sitting on his stomach in a public place."

I swore and leapt off of the midget immediately, my face turning bright red with embarrassment. Edward looked like a tomato as he scrambled to his feet.

"This isn't over until we all say, blondie," I whispered as I grabbed Kes's hand and rushed away.

**Edward POV**

Well, that was embarrassing.

I watched with a slight blush on my face as Alex and Kestrel walked away. The two ended up giggling about something or another, and then Kestrel said something to Alex. I'm not sure what it was, the only word I caught was "closet", but it made Alex cry out, turn beet red, and start weakly hitting Kes as Kes howled with laughter.

I shook my head with a chuckle as they left, feeling much lighter as if a weight had been thrown off my shoulders. Alex didn't blame me. It wasn't my fault this time. We were still friends.

I grinned.

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**Dreamer372:Hey! And this is another ending for It all started with a kindle! ...stupid kindle... Anyway! I'm back in school, and I hope this won't affect with my fanfiction!**


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